Councillors approved up to 330 homes off Hookhams Lane, Renhold, despite 110 objections, and raised traffic calming money to £200,000. What was agreed.

Up to 330 homes can be built on farmland off Hookhams Lane in Renhold, after Bedford Borough Council’s Planning Committee approved the outline plans. The developer, Manor Oak Homes, also agreed to pay £200,000 towards traffic calming on Hookhams Lane and Ravensden Road, up from the £140,000 first offered for Hookhams Lane alone.

The committee met on 21 October. Its draft minutes, published on 3 November, record the decision and the extra terms. They do not record how councillors voted.

The application is 26/00724/MAO. Only the access roads have been approved in detail. The layout, the look of the homes and the landscaping come later, in “reserved matters” applications.

Why a site refused in 2020 was approved now

The same farmland was turned down in 2020, when an earlier developer wanted up to 400 homes and a primary school. A planning inspector dismissed the appeal that December for one reason only: it clashed with the council’s plan for where homes should go.

What has changed is the council’s housing supply. In 2020 it could show at least 5.4 years’ worth of building land. Now, according to the officers’ report, it can show only 3.24 years. Below five years, national rules treat its housing policies as out of date, and there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development.

Officers were frank about the downsides. They said the site breaks the Local Plan 2030 and the Renhold Neighbourhood Plan. They called it, on balance, “an unsustainable location”, because schools, the pub, the village hall and the shops at Goldington Square are too far to walk or cycle to easily. They still recommended approval, because the benefits outweighed the harm.

What the plans include

According to the officers’ report, the scheme includes:

  • up to 330 homes, from one to four bedrooms
  • 99 affordable homes (30%), about four in five of them for rent
  • 66 bungalows (20% of the total)
  • open space through the middle of the site along the stream, with play areas and space for sport
  • a spine road between Hookhams Lane and Ravensden Road, built to take buses
  • £300,000 towards bus services, which the developer has committed to pay

The development takes about 19.65 hectares of farmland, which officers classed as “best and most versatile” agricultural land.

What the committee added on the night

Renhold Parish Council objected to the scheme and still did on the night. In emails sent before the meeting, it also suggested ways to soften it. The developer accepted most of them. The committee then added these to the planning agreement, according to the minutes:

  • £200,000 for traffic calming on both Hookhams Lane and Ravensden Road, replacing £140,000 for Hookhams Lane only
  • wider, better footways along the north-eastern side of Ravensden Road, opposite the site
  • a bridleway extension or multi-use path around the site
  • sports facilities on site designed with the parish council’s input
  • the first 10 affordable homes offered to Renhold residents, matching the need found in the village’s housing needs survey
  • the open spaces offered to the parish council to manage first, then the borough council, and only then a management company

The developer turned down one request: wider green buffers between the new homes and existing houses in Home Close, Hookhams Lane and Ravensden Road.

The committee also shortened the deadline for the detailed plans. The developer must now submit them within 18 months, not the usual three years. The developer offered this to speed up building.

Further conditions cover dark skies lighting, which the Renhold Neighbourhood Plan asks for, and great crested newts.

The objections

The council received 111 comments before the report was published, according to the officers’ report. 110 objected, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England. The one in support came from Mark Rutherford School, which wants to take the secondary pupils.

Eight more arrived after the report: seven objections and one in support. One objector raised the “Important Green Gap” along Ravensden Road, which the Renhold Neighbourhood Plan protects.

On road safety, officers told the committee that police records show one collision in five years on the stretch between Hookhams Lane and Home Farm. That was a two-vehicle crash with slight injuries on 18 March 2024. The council’s highways team did not object.

What the NHS and schools asked for

Several public bodies asked for money in their responses to the application. The report records these requests:

Who asked What for Amount
NHS Central East Integrated Care Board More room at Church Lane Surgery, Putnoe Medical Centre or Honeysuckle Way Medical Centre £577,830
The same care board Community health and mental health services £37,653 and £43,032
The council’s education team Secondary school places £1,965,713
The council’s education team Special educational needs places £426,040
East of England Ambulance Service Relocating and expanding Kempston Ambulance Hub, with electric vehicle charging £122,430

The care board estimated the homes would add about 792 patients to those three practices. The minutes do not list the final amounts in the planning agreement, which has still to be signed.

What it means for you

  • If you live on Hookhams Lane or Ravensden Road, traffic calming is now funded for both roads. Its design is not yet public.
  • If you are on Renhold’s housing list, the first 10 affordable homes are earmarked for village residents.
  • No building can start yet. The planning agreement has to be signed, and the detailed plans submitted and approved.
  • You can comment again when the reserved matters application comes in. You can follow it on the council’s planning portal by searching 26/00724/MAO.

For other schemes going through the council, see our Bedford planning news page. For the bigger picture on where homes will go to 2050, see our report on the Local Plan 2050 consultation, which closes on 23 November.

Sources