Benefits

We have been undertaking work over the past few years to explore the opportunities provided by Millfield End. There are many key benefits the development will deliver, including:

• A range of sporting and recreational facilities for local people. This includes the opportunity to provide high-quality sports pitches on the site to enhance local sporting provision. This could enable the pitches at Green End Road to be retained solely for cricket and protected from overuse.
• Substantial areas of green open space, including parkland, play areas and allotments. There will also be areas dedicated to habitat creation, making Millfield End a haven for wildlife, as well as small woodland areas, orchards and edible landscapes. 
• Contributions towards new healthcare and education provision, which will be developed by Bedford Borough Council and local healthcare providers. 
• Comprehensive sustainable drainage plans, including a network of pipes, depressions, basins, swales and ditches to store surface water and control its release into the existing water network. This system will help to reduce the rate at which water enters the drainage system, thereby relieving pressure on the network and catering for future climate change.

• Minimise vehicle movements through Millfield End via a carefully designed highways scheme which provides appropriate vehicular access points into the new development from Bedford Road, whilst also creating an attractive frontage to the site and helping to naturally reduce the speed of vehicles along Bedford Road and into the existing village. 
• Improved access to the surrounding countryside, via a ‘permeable’ development. New footways and cycleways which improve access into the surrounding countryside and link Millfield End into the wider landscape.