Bedford Development Framework
FORMER LAND SETTLEMENT
ASSOCIATION AREA
BACKGROUND PAPER
Bedford Borough Council
2010
Introduction
The Bedford Borough Council is preparing an Allocations and Designations Plan as
part of the Bedford Development Framework. This Framework is part of the new
spatial planning system, introduced by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act
2004, which will gradually replace the current Bedford Borough Local Plan. The
majority of policies in the Bedford Borough Local Plan are 'saved' until they are
replaced by policies within the Bedford Development Framework.
Bedford Borough Local Plan policy NE19 is the saved policy that currently designates
the former Land Settlement Association area in the Wyboston, Chawston and
Colesden Parish. The Allocations and Designations Plan is being prepared as part of
the Bedford Development Framework to make specific site allocations and land
designations in the Borough (with the exception of those already dealt with in the
Bedford Town Centre Area Action Plan and sites for minerals and waste
development) and consideration must be given to policy NE19.
The purpose of this report is to highlight any issues around the current designation,
assess the effectiveness of Policy NE19 and make recommendations as to how the
former Land Settlement Association area may be designated in the Allocations and
Designations Plan.
Location
The former Land Settlement Association designation is comprised of five separate
sites within the Wyboston, Chawston and Colesden Parish. The designation
boundary is the same as that which was originally created and managed under the
former Land Settlement Association scheme.
Fig 1: Location within Bedford Borough
designation
Fig 2: Former Land Settlement Association
boundary
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History
Land Settlement Association estates of smallholdings were created during the 1930s.
The LSA’s original plan was to settle unemployed industrial workers from depressed
areas on estates of agricultural smallholdings (based on horticulture, pigs and
chickens) and provide work for them and their families. Men were invited to apply
and received agricultural training. Despite being vetted for suitability to the rural life,
many communities failed when men complained of the long hours, low pay and
isolation of rural life 1 .
In 1939 the scheme for unemployed men was halted. Instead, men with agricultural
experience were leased holdings in order to maximise food production as part of the
war effort.
In 1948 the LSA formally became part of statutory smallholdings. This provided the
“first rung on the farming ladder” for those with agricultural experience. A tenant was
required to live in the house, devote themselves exclusively to the cultivation of the
holding and generate enough work to provide full-time employment for not more than
two people, including themselves.
The scheme was wound up in 1982, at which time the land was sold into private
ownership. The Council introduced a policy to manage and protect the area in 1984
by way of the Roxton Parish Plan.
Current Policy
The Land Settlement area is addressed in the Local Plan’s Natural Environment
Chapter (Chapter 3, character and appearance of the Borough):
Policy NE19
Within the Wyboston Land Settlement Association Area defined on the
proposals map development will only be permitted where:
i) it would not result in a significant adverse impact on the unique
agricultural character or appearance of the area;
ii) it would not result in an adverse impact on residential amenity or
create unacceptable disturbance;
iii) it would be on a scale appropriate to the area;
iv) it would not result in increased traffic generation or the need for
significant related development
Character
Policy NE19 refers to a unique agricultural character and appearance of the area.
The following section discusses the current character of the area. This analysis was
prepared following two site visits, a review of a series of photographs taken in
November and June 2009 and discussions with a representative of the local parish.
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http://www.reading.ac.uk/merl/research/merl-landsettlement.aspx
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Land Use
Cultivation of the land has gradually deceased. There is virtually no productive
element remaining in the LSA areas, with only one or two small scale occurrences of
products for niche markets. A few remaining areas of glasshousing reflect the
market garden era, but many of these are broken and empty. There is not a strong
sense of food production compared to land adjacent to the LSA, which is heavily
cropped.
Agricultural character has been replaced by a rural character. The majority of the
area is grazed, with small wooded areas, rural style fencing, hobby farm livestock
and horses. There are some domestic glasshouses, private orchards and large
areas of garden and lawn. The strong countryside feel is contributed to by the
majority of the properties remaining free of development, with large agricultural plots
visible at the LSA boundary and the retention of open views across open fields.
The five designation areas have similarities, but each designation area has
developed a slightly different character:
Rookery Road is the largest designation area. Access is via a long narrow road,
which is clearly marked from the centre of the Wyboston settlement. The houses line
the road along both sides, and the vast majority of land associated with the houses is
located to the rear. This gives the road a strong rural residential appearance, with
dwellings and domestic curtilage (entrances, garages, large gardens, private
orchards and small domestic glasshouses) visible from the road. Fencing is
generally a mix of stock wire and post and rail, but high brick walls and gates are an
increasingly strong element. Vegetation, including large trees and conifer hedging up
to approx 3 metres, are also a strong element.
Spinney Road is near Chawston. The designation road runs lengthways along the
top of a rolling landscape. There is generally a lack of mature or dense vegetation
around the houses and associated development, which are very visible from Roxton
Road in both directions. Business activity, with large industrial agricultural buildings,
operates from the first and last property along Spinney Road. Glasshouses continue
to be a strong feature, partly as they are so visible. The land associated with the
houses has some agricultural character, with hedgerows, wire stock fences and large
field sizes, but to the back of the houses are extensive areas of lawn grass. Built
features, such as walls and hard surface landscaping, are starting to appear but
generally the area is very open and exposed.
Great North Road runs parallel to the A1 and is separated from the balance of the
designation area by the A1. The area is accessed by a pedestrian over bridge, north
of the area, or from the south bound lane of the A1. The designation road is very
narrow and runs between the houses and the balance of the plots. There is a strong
working/semi-industrial character to the area, with a number of sheds and storage
facilities set immediately across from the houses. The character of the houses is not
as distinctive as other designation areas. The A1 has a real impact on the residential
amenity of the area.
Homefield Road is very private and virtually no activity is visible from the main road.
The shape of the land parcels puts the houses into a cluster, rather than in a row.
There is a mix of uses in the designation, with business use most on the outer edge.
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Morris Walk is set back well behind the Wyboston main settlement. The small strip of
houses is not visible from The Lane and access is very private. The houses are
surrounded by productive fields, creating a strong agricultural setting. Landscaping
around the houses is very private and gates are a feature. The dwellings are difficult
to see from Morris Walk, however the area of Morris Walk generally has a rural
residential character.
There have been a number of applications for change of use across the designation
area. New uses include the keeping of horses, the storage of equipment and
agricultural machinery, and various business uses including a cattery, the repair,
servicing and selling of motor vehicles, a dog kennel business and joinery craft
workshop with ancillary sales and display area. Applications for change of use have
only been refused based on highways/traffic and flooding grounds.
Spatial Pattern
The former Land Settlement Association areas have a unique spatial pattern which
represents the area’s history of land-use and settlement. The layout of the plots is a
product of the former Land Settlement Association policy and characterised by a
relatively uniform pattern of 1.5 to 2 hectare land parcels. The layout of the dwellings
has strong building lines, regular setbacks and a lack of residential development ‘in
depth’, which has retained the rear of the properties, and majority of the overall land
area, unencumbered by development and still available for future productive use.
The single carriage width access roads are ‘dead ends’ giving the designation areas
a private feel and strongly defined boundaries. This is not typical of Bedfordshire
villages, which are spread along a main ‘through’ roads and have less regular plots
and building lines.
The spaciousness of the Land Settlement Area is a defining characteristic. The
original homes were well spaced apart and the detached pattern of dwellings and
structures has, in most instances, retained a sense of space. The gaps between the
homes and significant areas of vegetation play a significant part in the LSA character,
and the overall appearance remains significantly less intensive than a typical village.
However, the cumulative effect of additional built features including housing
extensions, domestic structures eg garages, and increase in high walls, gates and
hard surface entrances, present a risk, particularly where they are visually dominant.
Any subdivision of these large plots for the purpose of increasing dwellings,
particularly in close proximity to one another, would alter the grain of the Settlement
Area, damaging the special character of the area and the appearance of the
landscape.
Dwellings
The original dwellings were modest, brick clad, steep-pitch roofed detached houses,
with rooms in the roof space. There were two styles of dwelling on the LSA
properties, quite distinct from other settlements in the Borough. The majority of
properties were ‘chalet’ style. These dwellings had strong symmetry, a prominent
front elevation, and were simple in design and appearance. The ‘manager’s style’
dwelling, for which symmetry was not so crucial, had a dominant gable front and two
storey design to the rear. The detached designs meant there were windows on all
sides of the house and blank walls were not a feature.
By the late 1990’s, the volume and extent of applications prompted the Council to
investigate appropriate options for how to extend the very small dwellings. The
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Council’s Chief Architect, at the time, provided informal design guidance by preparing
sketches of appropriate design options. In assessing dwellings for extensions,
planning department advice was given that all proposals were to reflect the
characteristics, design features and identity of the original dwellings. In assessing
extensions, consideration was to be given to the size of the extension, and
specifically to how an increased floor space was distributed and the resulting scale,
design, massing and bulk.
As a consequence of the design guidance, elements of the original character have
remained evident in extensions, and are sometimes strongly preserved. However, as
there was no maximum floor space or footprint specified, even with careful design
and location of extension, a significant addition was often the result. In many cases,
the extensions are the strongest feature, dominating the original house. In some
cases new forms of cladding have been introduced. Typically, the predominant
features to ‘survive’ the extension process are the dormer windows and elements of
the roofline.
Alterations have generated a range of house sizes (number of bedrooms) and there
is now a degree of choice within the area which was not originally present. This
choice includes the few houses that remain comparatively small and they form an
important part of the complete housing offer.
Policy Effectiveness
The purpose of NE19 is to protect the special character of the LSA. However, the
policy gives no guidance as what makes up the unique agricultural character or
appearance of the area. The policy’s reference to adverse impacts on residential
amenity and unacceptable disturbance seem to contradict the initial reference to
agricultural character, which suggests a degree of farm type productiveness and
related noise, dust and odour. The reference to scale does not refer to scale at any
particular time, and the size of buildings has incrementally increased over time.
Discussions with senior Development Control staff and a review of the development
application history, via the Council’s ‘Uniform’ system, disclose that NE19 is not
generally used to control effects on the appearance or setting of the LSA area.
Reference to it in officer’s reports is made stronger with reference to other policies,
which have historically proven reliable and defendable. Policy H29 (Extensions to
dwellings in the open countryside) successfully deals with applications to alter
dwellings. This policy is the most useful policy as it makes specific reference to
architectural character, size and scale of the original dwelling. Policy H26 (Housing
in the Open Countryside) has been effectively cited where additional dwellings have
been sought. BE29 and BE30 are used against proposals of poor quality
development, together with the Council’s supplementary design guide Residential
Extensions, New Dwellings and Small Infill Development (2000).
Discussion/Conclusion
The former Land Settlement Association area remains an area with unique character
in the Borough despite land use change and extensions to dwellings. The area’s
distinct spatial pattern and layout, the general dwelling style and the spaces between
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dwellings and structures gives the area a distinct character compared to other
settlements and villages in Bedford.
The existing policy (NE19) needs to be strengthened to protect the distinctive
character of the area and to reflect changes that have occurred since the original
policy was formulated. It could also recognise that the land is a resource which could
be brought back into food production at some time in the future.
Changing the boundary of the former Land Settlement Association designation to
reflect changes in character is problematic. Assessing the most preserved area and
restricting the designation area to reflect these would compromise the historic context
of the designation. Increasing the designation to eliminate fragmentation is not
feasible, given the neighbouring land uses and introduction of new housing styles
and a more ‘urban’ character in newer developments adjacent to the designation.
There are a number of policies in the Bedford Core Strategy and Rural Issues Plan
that apply to the area which could be used to manage the designation. It is the
opinion of Development Control staff that Policy CP13 (Countryside and development
within it) should prove as effective at controlling additional development within the
former Land Settlement Association area as elsewhere in the Borough. Other
policies that apply include CP21 (Designing in quality), CP23[ii] (Heritage – cultural
assets, including the landscape) and CP29 (Accessibility). None of these, however,
relate specifically to the character of the form Land Settlement Association area.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are made:
1.
Continue to designate the former Land Settlement Association areas in the
Bedford Development Framework Allocations and Designations Plan.
2.
Amend Policy NE19 as follows:
Within the former Land Settlement Association Area defined on the Proposals
Map, development will only be permitted where applications:
•
•
•
•
3.
maintain the distinctive spatial pattern, layout and scale of plots;
respect the style, scale, appearance and orientation of the original
dwellings and separation between them;
protect residential amenity from inappropriate disturbance; and
do not result in unacceptable levels of traffic generation
Continue to show the designation area based on the historic Land Settlement
Association boundary.
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Appendix 1 – Informal design guidance sketches
Chalet Style
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Manager’s style
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