Consultation on the Developing in the Forest of Marston Vale: Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)
Consultation closed: Thursday 28 July 2022
Consultation opened: Wednesday 15 June 2022
We are currently consulting on our Forest of Marston Vale: Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document (PDF).
What is the Forest of Marston Vale?
The Forest of Marston Vale is one of 12 nationally designated community forests, created in the 1990s as part of a programme to regenerate degraded landscapes near large urban populations. The Forest of Marston Vale spans an area of 61 square miles between Milton Keynes and Bedford.
The vision for the Forest of Marston Vale is to deliver environmental regeneration by increasing tree cover from 3% to 30%, and in turn, provide major landscape, recreation, biodiversity, and quality of life benefits. By 2015, the Forest of Marston Vale Trust, working with local communities, landowners, businesses and partners, had already increased tree cover to over 15%.
Why is the Forest of Marston Vale Supplementary Planning Document needed?
Policy EE9 of our adopted Local Plan sets the requirement for all new development within the Forest of Marston Vale area to deliver 30% tree canopy cover. Bedford Borough Council also has an equivalent policy in its local plan.
Our adopted Local Plan identifies the need for a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) to provide guidance on how to deliver the Forest of Marston Vale. The Forest of Marston Vale SPD will sit alongside our existing Design Guide to provide locally specific guidance for the forest area.
What does the guidance include?
The Forest of Marston Vale: Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) sets out how the 30% tree cover requirements in the Central Bedfordshire and Bedford Borough local plans should be achieved in the forest area. It provides specific guidance on the number of trees that are required for different types of development and sets out options for the types of planting that will be acceptable. It also includes high-level built design guidance to ensure new developments contribute toward the character of the forest area and considers the impact of climate change.
Consultation on the guidance
As the document covers both Central Bedfordshire and Bedford Borough, we're hosting a joint consultation, to ensure communities within the forest area and stakeholders have an opportunity to comment on the document. This will ensure it's robust and can be given weight in decision-making.
Have your say
This consultation is closed.
The Forest of Marston Vale: Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) ran for public consultation for six weeks from 10am on Wednesday 15 June 2022 to 10am on Thursday 28 July 2022.
Next steps
After the consultation ends, we will consider all the comments received and will make changes to the document where necessary. A summary of the comments received and how they have been taken into account will be presented to our Executive Committee in the autumn, alongside the final Forest of Marston Vale: Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). Once adopted the SPD will be a material consideration in determining applications within the Forest of Marston Vale area and all development proposals be required to demonstrate that they have taken it into consideration.