Campaign to Stop Unwanted Developments Continues as Council is Forced into Mowsbury Housing Plans U-turn

2.49.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 5th Sep 2008

Local Liberal Democrats have been successful in forcing the council to re-think its plans for 270 houses to be built on the Mowsbury Golf Course site

Bedford Borough Council has performed a dramatic U-turn over its plans for a 270-home housing development on the site of Mowsbury Golf Course. The proposals have been withdrawn just two weeks after being submitted as part of the process of allocating sites for development in the Borough between now and 2021. Local Liberal Democrats have welcomed the news after fighting a vigorous campaign against the plans. With Council plans for unnecessary and damaging developments at various other key sites still in place, the Lib Dems have vowed to fight on to prevent harmful overdevelopment in Bedford Borough.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Brickhill Ward Cllr Charles Royden said: "The Council's u-turn on its proposal for a large housing development on the Mowsbury Golf Course site is very welcome news. The plans would have allowed urban sprawl to overtake the open, green environment in this part of Bedford and would have damaged local residents' quality of life.'

"This is no time for celebration, however. Several other key areas of public land are also in the council's sights for equally damaging and unsuitable development. These include Freeman's Common, the Bedford Athletic Rugby Ground and the Mile Road Allotments, along with many others. The impact of housing developments at these sites will be to damage the local environment and cause erosion of our public green spaces.'

"The Council has shown that it is not too proud to change its mind in the case of its misguided plans for Mowsbury Golf Course. This clearly gives us encouragement as we continue the fight to make it see sense over other sites which must be protected from harmful development. There is simply no need for more and more land to be concreted over for housing, as an excess of land is already allocated for the development of the 16,000 new homes that are required to be built in the borough by 2021. Plans to sacrifice vital leisure and amenity sites for unnecessary development are therefore nothing more than a desperate dash for cash.