e-petitions - The Council should adopt the Pylon Land Open Space and Play Area on Roman Gate Estate, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 9RY

Request that the landowner offer up the Pylon Land Open Space and Play Area to be transferred to the Council for the sum of one pound (£1.00) each, as required by the Third and Fifth Schedules of the Unilateral Undertaking made pursuant to Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 relating to land known as Site 17A Billington Road Leighton Buzzard and dated 13th July 2007, and that when such an offer is made that Central Bedfordshire Council accept the transfer of the Pylon Land Open Space and Play Area as specified in Section 7.5 of the Landscape Management Plan for Parcel 17A dated May 2020 and allow Leighton-Linslade Town Council to manage the land for the benefit of local residents and the environment.

Supporting details

Outline planning permission for the housing development at Site 17A in Leighton Buzzard (subsequently referred as the Roman Gate estate) was granted on 5th December 2007 (Application: SB/OUT/06/0867) following a Unilateral Undertaking (Section 106 Agreement) dated 13th July 2007.

Within the Section 106 Agreement, the Third Schedule dictates that the Play Areas on the estate be offered for transfer to the Council for the sum of one pound (£1.00), and the Fifth Schedule dictates that the Landscaped Amenity Areas are also offered for transfer to the Council for the sum of one pound (£1.00).

Further, the Ninth Schedule of the Section 106 Agreement, and Condition 14 of the subsequent full planning application for the housing development (CB/11/02597/VOC), specified that a Landscape Management Plan be created for the Landscaped Amenity Areas (the most recent version dated May 2020), in which Section 7.5 specifies that the Northern Principle Open Space Area (also referred to as the Pylon Land Open Space on the accompanying plan) be adopted by the Local Planning Authority.

The land was designated as ‘Outdoor Sport, Leisure and Open Space’ in the Local Plan in 2021, and a meeting of the Leighton-Linslade Town Council on 11th May 2022 (Minute 299/P) confirmed that the Town Council were prepared to take on the responsibility of managing the park once the transfer of land to Central Bedfordshire Council has taken place.

An exhaustive search of correspondence by Central Bedfordshire Council as a result of a Freedom of Information Request (Ref: 6697969) has determined that no offer has ever been made to the Council for either the Play Area or the Landscaped Amenity Area, which is contrary to the Section 106 Agreement.

We therefore ask that Central Bedfordshire Council now ask the present landowner (Arnold White Estates) to offer up the land for adoption and that the Council manage the open space for the benefit of local residents and to safeguard the site from the possibility of any future development.

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