busy busy busy

Our local Central Beds ward - everything from Cranfield and Salford to Brogborough, Marston, Lidlington and Ridgmont has three councillors - all of them from Cranners. But what do they do when they get to CBC Towers near Shefford?
 
Here's the current set-up, agreed at the council's recent Annual meeting 

Sue Clark was appointed Deputy Executive Member for Children’s Services, and a member of the Development Management Committee. 


 
Alan Bastable was appointed Vice Chair of the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Ken Matthews was appointed Vice Chair of the Development Management Committee, General Purposes Committee, and the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

One huge traffic jam

We went head to head with CBC last week over Flitt Leys Close and the Central Motors proposal. Here is my interim report to the parish council. More discussion tomorrow night.

Last week Pcllrs Delise Ball, Roger Baker and Laurence Pollock met with senior planners and highways officers and Cllrs Nigel Young (sustainable communities lead ) and Brian Spurr (highways lead) at Chicksands along with our three ward councillors. The aim  was to look at how Flitt Leys Close/Central motors was now the potential access for 135 homes, a health centre, a school and the existing takeaways and to highlight existing issues in the Close.

There are two points of note:

First Brian Spurr has offered, and I am sure we will take it up, to do another site visit to look at the current situation in FLC. This is in the light of our description of the on-going problems as they stand with the hot food takeaways. Parking bays and double yellow lines were discussed with Brian warning that any parking restrictions will cause a public reaction. We acknowledged this but pointed out that CBC in effect had offered to look at the present situation and offer some solutions.  

Secondly Nigel Young went to great lengths to argue that the local development framework including a school in Central Motors had been fully consulted on. Given that the original paperwork simply nominated a school (if needed) I’m not so sure. That option has now become a cast iron certainty with no alternative site permitted. For years we were told the playing field on Home Farm reflected the expansion needed for the Lower School. No one in CBC education or planning has ever stated ‘we need to look for a new school site’.

Others present will I am sure offer more detail and context tomorrow night. 

I appreciated the time spent but I’m not sure CBC 'gets' how a series of poor decisions – inadequate education capacity for Home Farm, poor choice of location for the health centre, permission  to build around a group of  takeaways and single access for a 135-home development are now piling up. Into one huge traffic jam.   

 

 

Unanswered questions

The Parish Council's Planning committee last night recommended that the following letter be sent to CBC regarding its recent handling of the Flitt Leys Close development brief. This will go to Full Council on 17 April for ratification

"Cranfield Parish Council (CPC) has noted with dismay the decision of Central Bedfordshire Council’s executive to approve a development brief for Flitt Leys Close which includes a school.

"It is also disturbed by the report back from Councillor Alan Bastable that the cost of finding a site elsewhere – suggested as £2 million – was a factor in approving the brief against strong local opposition.  We were told that this factor had been known to council officers and some councillors for some time but ward councillors were not informed. Two scrutiny committee debates took place without this being disclosed. One of these meetings discussed a choice of the brief with or without a school but we now understand that the no-school option was not in fact available.

"We believe that Central Beds Council should explain first how the Parish Council, local people and ward councillors were significantly misled for so long about a substantive fact of matter. Secondly it should also explain why the cost of finding suitable land for education expansion is to be met by the village – not developers – unless an entirely unsuitable site is accepted."

Not pretty

This is not pretty reading.

As previously described, Central Beds Executive has supported a development brief for the 135-home Central Motors site at Flitt Leys Close with a school. There is to be action taken, immediately, to tackle parking issues in the cul de sac and the brief pledges an effort to find alternative pedestrian routes to the school so that children can walk there.  The brief also raises the possibility of realigning the school on the proposed site.

Butt the decision making process has been extraordinary. In his report to last night’s parish council Central Beds Councillor Alan Bastable described how he had been invited to a recent meeting, only on arrival at council headquarters at Chicksands. He said there was no prior notice of the meeting and Cllr Sue Clark had not been invited. At this meeting he had learned that if Central Motors did not include a school, CBC would have to find £2 million for a site elsewhere. This had been known for months by some officers and members but it had never come up at previous meetings.

He had been told that a “no-school option” was included in the previous overview and scrutiny committee agenda even though the council knew it was not feasible.

“For six months someone has known that option 2 (no school) was not an option.”

Alan said even the Executive was not fully informed and he asked: “Who runs this council?”

Well, who indeed? It’s a legitimate question and a profoundly worrying one.  It appears that this was being driven through regardless of the adverse factors.  It is worse than the Old Mid Beds plan to facilitate school expansion through a field in Home Farm. I wonder did Persimmon know that option 2 wasn’t feasible?  They said in their recent consultation document: “The proposed lower school playing field site is now favoured by CBC to be located elsewhere within the village. Persimmon Homes will offer to make a financial contribution in lieu of the provision of the lower school playing field on site.”

Perhaps a contribution of £2 million would be appropriate to wriggle out of the tight corner they are in, thus allowing the school to move to suitable site of their choice. And perhaps the elected members, the village and the governing body could have a transparent debate about the location. That’s what I call a level playing field.