Central Beds Council has approved the design brief for the 135-home plus a school development at the old Central Motors site off the High Street.
Approval for the brief was granted subject to a traffic management scheme being introduced when a planning application for the school comes in. This will also be the access for the proposed health centre when and if that gets built.
Having said that, it was a pretty tortured discussion and that's not surprising. I am not the only one to worry that we are constructing the new Court Road, from scratch, by putting a school in the middle of a a residential development with all the drop off and pick up headaches created. On top of that, the Flitt Leys residents already struggle with little parking space and the spin-off from the hot food takeaways. So how is a bus going to get down to the new development? I don't know, let alone how all the residents get out.
To my amazement highways engineers offered "on-off" parking as a solution. This formalises parking, partly on the footpath and partly on the road, with bay markings on the footpath itself.
A chairman's briefing follow-up paper states:
"A number of on/off parking bays will be provided for residents bounding the access road of Flitt Leys close. Each bay will require a residential permit."
"The bays will be designed to be used as a footpath while not in use for parking. The parking restrictions would apply at all times."
Parish Councillor Roger Baker addressed the committee and pointed out the "frenzied jockeying" for car space that already occurs in Court Road. He added: "Do not put a another school in a residential cul de sac with the predictable shambles."
It is not certain a school will go on on the site and Cllr Ken Matthews reported that Lower School governors were due to discuss the matter. But it was also pointed out that the school was not part of the current application and so could not be formally considered.
Nevertheless committee members were worried about the reality of a school being built. There would be no drop-off point for parents as it is CBC's policy to discourage driving to school. However other, worldly-wise members sighed and said yes they will still drive their 4x4s down there.
Cllr Matthews argued that with highway management it "can and could be made to work, it was less than ideal but the only available solution."
And Cllr Alan Bastable said that the traffic management team had come up with a scheme that was the least unsatisfactory answer to an unsatisfactory situation.
Cllr Matthews or Cllr Bastable will be at the parish council meeting next Wednesday and will be able to enlarge on the decision and offer context. But I am struggling to understand how at this very early stage we cannot get it right and options are already limited.
