Biggleswade 1,500-home garden town clinches approval

Plans for 1,500 homes in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire have been approved after the local council voted against officer recommendations. UKRegeneration clinched a 7-6 vote in favour of the urban extension which includes 450 affordable homes, a primary school and leisure and community facilities and 150 acres of public space. Planning officers at Central Bedfordshire Council had recommended the scheme for refusal, citing the “significant loss of open countryside”. But the committee concluded that the benefits of the new garden town outweighed those concerns. The consent comes almost five years after UKRegeneration acquired the land for the garden town. UKRegeneration lodged the plans in March. It supersedes previous consent, with the introduction of two new access roads. Jackie Sadek, chief operating officer at UKRegeneration said: “It is now a deliverable scheme and we are going to get on in short order. We have made a list of promises to the local community and we will now deliver on that.” The developer will now focus on early delivery of community facilities, including a garden community programme, a sports a leisure hub and a splash park. It will agree a contractual design code for the garden town. UKRegeneration is also working on a new sustainable transport system for Biggleswade in collaboration with the local authority. It will connect the medieval town centre with the new settlement and nearby retail park and business park, with pedestrian and cycle routes, buses on demand and hopes to introduce shared autonomous vehicles. “We are trying to do something quite radical in the transport space and we are very keen on making this the central plank of the garden community we are building together,” said Sadek. “This is going to be a garden community like no other.” To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @estatesgazette Image © UKRegeneration