Following the recent technical issues with the Council's website, the council will accept representations submitted until 5pm on Monday 15th March. Comments on the Site Allocations can now be made by clicking on the 'Have Your Say' icons on this website.

As part of the Local Development Framework process for the North Area, at least 17,950 new homes and 17,000 new jobs must be provided between 2001 and 2026, in line with requirements contained in the East of England Plan and the Milton Keynes and South Midlands Sub Regional Strategy. A number of these homes and jobs have already been provided or have planning permission, but to help to provide for the remainder we are seeking to identify land which could be allocated for residential and employment purposes. 443 sites and proposals have been submitted by landowners and developers to the former Mid Beds District Council for potential residential and commercial development. Only a very small number of these will need to be developed to meet Government targets. Alongside meeting these targets, improvements are also planned to local services and infrastructure.

Pre-Submission Public Participation – (Beginning 25th January 2010)
The Draft Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) was approved for submission to Secretary of State at Central Bedfordshire full council meeting on 7th January 2010. The agenda and minutes from this meeting are available on the Council’s committee web page - CLICK HERE to view .

The Draft Submission version of this document will be published for a six week period beginning on 25th January 2010. This is not an additional stage of consultation but an opportunity to make any comments specifically relating to the soundness of the plan as required by the regulations (Section 20 (5)(b) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004).

Next Steps
After the six week publication of the Draft Submission the DPD will be submitted to the Secretary of State, together with any proposed changes. This is expected to be around May 2010. There will then be an Independent Examination, conducted by an Inspector appointed by the Planning Inspectorate to consider the “soundness” of the plan and objections received during the consultation period. After the examination the Inspector will produce a report which may include changes to the plan to meet objections and other matters. These changes will be binding on the Council, who may then proceed to formally adopt the DPD, at a meeting of the Full Council.

Previous Consultation

Issues and Options
Public consultation was undertaken in 2008 seeking comments on all potential sites and proposals submitted to the Council.
• During the first round in February - April over 10,700 responses were received, commenting upon around 369 initial potential development sites.
• During July and August a second round of consultation was undertaken on 74 new sites and proposals. Over 1,400 comments were received.
A consultation report setting out the results of both rounds of consultation is available from this website.
The consultation report can also be viewed at Central Bedfordshire Council offices in Chicksands, the Customer Service Centres in Biggleswade and Ampthill and local libraries.

Site Assessment Criteria
A further round of consultation was undertaken in September 2009 to ask the public, agents and statutory consultees what they believe to be the most important factors when considering which sites to allocate for development.

The findings of this consultation were used to help finalise the assessment criteria which was applied in order to select the most appropriate sites for development.

For more information about the Site Allocations DPD, please contact the LDF North Team on 0300 300 8000 or email ldf@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk