‘Exemplar’ Bedfordshire garden town gets nod

UK Regeneration has been given the go-ahead for “exemplar garden town” in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. The development will provide 1,500 new homes in the region. UKR said the Biggleswade project would be the first of a series of villages that will “emerge from a coherently planned country park, with a uniquely rural ‘take’ on the standard urban extension model”. Just 40% of the site will be developed for housing, with the rest given over to woodlands, walkways, cycleways, allotments and playing fields. Jackie Sadek, UKR chief operating officer, said: “We are on a mission to prove that you can build homes commercially, at pace and in volume, to a high design quality, in places where people wish to live. “And that you can do this without riding roughshod over the existing community, nor compromising the natural environment.” She added: “It is all about quality of life. Our developments will put people more in touch with nature. People need oxygen. And access to the countryside. “Our designs seek to lift the spirits of all those that live or work in our developments. “UKR puts community values at the heart of everything we do.  We now move forward to the detailed application phase, in careful consultation with local people and our planning authority. And we are speaking to a number of possible delivery partners for the build-out”. Sadek said the UKR had a “Biggleswade first” policy on the development which would see all commerce generated at the new settlement driven into the existing town centre. Tom Walker, deputy chief executive of Homes England, said: “UKR is a new entrant to the housing market, helping to tackle the housing crisis in the Oxford Cambridge Arc, and like us is committed to speeding up the development of new homes where they are needed most.” To send feedback, e-mail samantha.mcclary@egi.co.uk or tweet @samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette