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Local Plan 2030

Bedford Borough Council has prepared a local plan that sets out how much growth there should be in the borough in coming years (housing, jobs and associated infrastructure) and where it should take place. The Bedford Borough Local Plan 2030 was adopted by Full Council on 15 January 2020.

The plan can be viewed here: Bedford Borough Local Plan 2030 (PDF). 

The policies map has been updated to reflect the latest changes to the development plan.

View other supporting documentation (all PDFs):

Earlier stages

Following approval by Executive and Full Council on 5 December 2018, the Local Plan 2030 was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination. For further information see the Examination pages.

On 20 December 2019 the Council received the Inspectors’ report on the examination of the plan. With main modifications, the Inspectors conclude that the plan is ‘sound’ and has passed the necessary legal tests.

The Inspectors' Report and other key documents(all PDFs) can be found below:

Previous consultations

The Council consulted on proposed main modifications to the Local Plan 2030 between 19 August and 1 October 2019. The consultation has now closed.

The Council consulted on the Local Plan 2030: Plan for Submission between 18 September and 30 October 2018. This consultation has now closed.

The Local Plan 2030: Plan for Submission and the supporting documents (all PDFs) can be found below:

How we got to where we are

Representations on the Local Plan 2035 ‘Plan for Submission’ were invited between 22 January 2018 and 29 March 2018. Over 3,200 individual representations were made.

A key allocation within the plan was a new garden village at Colworth Park, in the north of the Borough near Santa Pod Raceway. It relied upon agreement between the garden village promoter and the operator of the raceway to deliver a range of noise mitigation measures. The response from the operator of the raceway confirmed that it had not been possible to reach such an agreement which brought into doubt the deliverability of the scheme.

View the representations received and a summary of the main issues raised. 

On 16 May 2018 the Council's Executive agreed that the 'Plan for Submission' version of the Local Plan 2035 should not be recommended to Full Council for submission to the Secretary of State for public examination, and that Officers should carry out additional work on the evidence base to support an amended Plan for Submission.

In addition, Executive approved an update to the Local Development Scheme. This includes a revised timetable for the preparation of the Local Plan (Appendix 5).

The Local Plan 2030 was approved for consultation by Executive on 5 September 2018.

The Executive report can be viewed here.

The Local Plan 2030 has been through various consultation stages during its preparation.

Site submissions

'Call for sites' took place during 2014 and 2015 where the council invited the submission of sites for consideration for potential allocation in the plan. Further sites were also submitted in 2017 and 2018. All sites submitted as part of this process can be viewed by clicking the link below. This is not the list of sites that are in the plan. It is the list of all sites that were submitted for consideration during the 'call for sites'.