Latest News
We will be regularly updating our website to provide information on progress to date and any consultations that we are undertaking, as well as to keep the local community updated at each phase of the project.
July 2024
Welcome to our public consultation on the Millfield End Planning application!
We are pleased to invite you to our public consultation event on Friday 12th July - from 1pm-6pm at Great Barford Village Hall. Please see the invite below:
If you cannot attend the event, you can find the information provided at the event at the link here.
July 2023
What's been happening?
On Tuesday 18 July, our team attended the Great Barford Parish Council meeting and delivered a presentation on the Development Brief and Design Code for Millfield End following our engagement event in May 2023.
We are delighted that the Development Brief and Design Code has been officially endorsed by the Great Barford Parish Council after ongoing engagement with the Neighbourhood Steering Group and the local community.
We will now begin our work on the planning application informed by the endorsed document.
April/May 2023
What’s been happening?
The Millfield End project team has now finalised a Development Brief and Design Code and renamed the land at Great Barford West to Millfield End.
Community Consultation
Vistry Group and Axiom Developments are inviting local residents to attend the public consultation events on the emerging Development Brief and Design Code for Millfield End.
We are keen to build on the previous consultation undertaken, with a keen focus on ensuring the deliverability of the site and its associated community benefits. Now that we have the emerging Development Brief and Design Code available to share, we are keen to continue to hear your views.
With your feedback, we hope to propose a Development Brief and Design Code and Masterplan that will ensure our proposals for Millfield End are designed to the highest possible quality.
Consultation details
We would like to invite you to meet with members of our team where we will be available to answer questions and discuss the plans on:
Thursday 25th May 1-7pm
at
Great Barford Village Hall, Fishers Close, Bedford, MK44 3HA
February 2023
What’s been happening?
Over the past few months the Great Barford West project team have been continuing work to finalise a Development Brief, which will set out our vision, layout and the key principles for the future development and ensure that it meets local and national planning policies.
The draft Development Brief is being created in close collaboration with Great Barford Neighbourhood Plan Group and will incorporate much of the useful feedback we have obtained during our previous engagement with the local community.
Community engagement
Our engagement with the local community began with our attendance at the Great Barford Neighbourhood Fun Day, and the next stage of this will be a period of consultation on our draft Development Brief.
The consultation will cover a range of formats to give everyone in Great Barford the opportunity to get involved, and we hope to begin this consultation in April 2023. We will be in contact with you in due course with more information on the consultation process, including an information newsletter and details on our dedicated project website, which will soon be updated with information on our draft Development Brief.
As a result of your feedback at the Fun Day, we will also be hosting a specific consultation for the naming of the development, and we will notify the local community in due course as to how this will be undertaken.
December 2022
What’s been happening?
The Great Barford West team have continued work on the Development Brief and are preparing to share a draft version with you in early 2023 through a series of consultation events.
What is a Development Brief?
A Development Brief allows residents to influence the design of a development from the start. The document will set out the key principles and parameters for the future development and explain how these meet local and national planning policies. The Development Brief will consulted on with the local community and will act as our guide for our future planning application.
Community consultation
We are now undertaking a series of engagement exercises with the local community on the proposals for the site and this started with our attendance at the Great Barford Neighbourhood Fun Day. We were delighted to meet with the local community and to begin to share with you our vision for the site.
We were pleased to hear such an informative range of feedback, which included topics such as:
- Naming of the development
- Community facilities
- Road and access arrangements
- New drainage systems
- Focally attractive green spaces
Your feedback is being carefully considered as we move forwards with preparing our draft Development Brief.
We will be hosting a thorough consultation on our vision, once a draft of the Development Brief has been progressed. The consultation will cover a range of formats to enable everyone in Great Barford the opportunity to get involved. These could include an information newsletter, community events , updates to our project website and dedicated project contact details, where you can speak directly with a member of our project team.
As a result of your feedback, we will also be hosting a specific consultation for the naming of our development, including road names, and we will notify the local community in due course as to how this will be undertaken.
29 September Update
What’s been happening?
The Great Barford West team have started work on the Development Brief for the site and have begun a series of activities to help bring forwards our vision for Great Barford West. These include:
- A team of technical consultants have been recently appointed to assess the opportunities and constraints of the site and identify the area most suitable for development and inform the master planning work.
- The technical survey work includes:
- Highways and transport analysis
- Ground Conditions & Drainage surveys
- Topographic survey
- Ecological habitat surveys
- Landscape and Visual Impact
- A site walkover with the technical team – to identify the constraints and opportunities for the site and understand the most important characteristics for the village, in discussion with representatives from the Great Barford Neighbourhood Plan Group.
These key project activities will assist in the preparation of the Development Brief and creation of some initial concept plans, which we will be sharing with the local community in a series of consultation events.
Community consultation
We will shortly be initiating a series of engagement exercises with the local community on the proposals for the site, which began with our attendance at the Great Barford Neighbourhood Fun Day. We were delighted to meet with the local community and to begin to share with you our vision for the site.
As always, your views are crucial to us as we evolve the proposals. As such, we will be hosting a thorough consultation on our vision so far. The consultation will utilise a range of mechanisms, including an information newsletter, community events, updates to our project website and dedicated project contact details, where you can speak directly with a member of our project team.
We look forward to meeting you and working collaboratively to bring forward a thriving and integrated development, which understands the needs of the existing community.
Copies of the exhibition boards can be downloaded below:
17th June 2022
Following adoption of the Great Barford Neighbourhood Plan earlier this year, the Great Barford West team is starting the technical work required to bring forward a considered expansion of Great Barford that is forward-thinking, community orientated and rooted in the unique nature of the local area.
What’s been happening?
We are currently preparing a Development Brief for the Great Barford West site, aided by ongoing discussions with the Great Barford Neighbourhood Plan Group. The Development Brief is a requirement of the Neighbourhood Plan and will set out a framework to shape the future development proposals.
As a first step in the process, we are in discussions with Bedford Borough Council Planning Officers to agree an appropriate outline for this Development Brief. These discussions are ongoing, but we expect to make significant progress on the Development Brief over the next few months, after which we will undertake a full consultation with the local community.
The Great Barford West team is also in the process of appointing a variety of technical consultants to assess the opportunities and constraints of the site and inform the master planning work to create an initial vision for Great Barford West that we can share and discuss with the local community
Archaeological report
A series of archaeological surveys were undertaken at the end of last year and, following this, a report was submitted to Bedford Borough Council summarising the results.
We have recently received confirmation from Bedford Borough Council’s Archaeological Officer that there are no significant archaeological constraints on the site and so the team can start to look in more detail at the development options for Great Barford West.
1st February 2022
Now that the Great Barford Neighbourhood Plan has been made, we are looking to move forward with our vision for the site.
The Neighbourhood Plan stipulates that a Development Brief must be prepared, which will set out a framework to shape the development proposals that ultimately come forward. This is a collaborative process, where we will work in partnership with Bedford Borough Council, Great Barford Parish Council, Great Barford Neighbourhood Plan Group and the local community, amongst other stakeholders.
We are currently having discussions with Bedford Borough Council to understand how they would like the Development Brief process to move forward. We will also agree the approach in collaboration with Great Barford Parish Council and the Neighbourhood Plan Group, before undertaking a full consultation exercise with the local community.
19th January 2022
Following a positive Referendum result last year, Bedford Borough Council has today determined to ‘make’ the Great Barford Neighbourhood Plan, which means it is now adopted Planning Policy and will be used to guide future development in the village. This is an important milestone and means we are now able to move forward with turning our vision for Great Barford West into reality.
16th December 2021
Over recent months, technical surveys have been undertaken on land to the north of Bedford Road, west of Great Barford. The most recent survey has been an archaeological investigation undertaken by a local Bedford-based company, Albion Archaeology.
These site investigations sought to comprehensively assess the archaeological characteristics of the site and particularly the archaeological areas of interest that were revealed by earlier geophysical surveys. A strategy for the evaluation of archaeology across the site was agreed in consultation with the archaeology advisor to Bedford Borough Council, who have monitored the works throughout.
183 trenches totalling some 6 kilometres were investigated between August and October this year. Buried features, which indicate past land-uses were recorded with dates revealing predominantly Iron Age and Roman occupation and farming practices.
A small area of features the southern extent of the site has revealed an organised enclosure area that may have contained a number of habitations that continued over several generations. The evidence uncovered is predominantly Roman in date, based on the artefacts discovered. There was also some evidence of earlier Iron Age activity and landscape organisation to the east of this Roman settlement area.
The recent trenching has revealed a number of discreet areas of historic settlement, landscape organisation and evidence of animal husbandry, although the majority of the site area was free of significant archaeology and will therefore require no further investigation.
Albion Archaeology are now analysing the results of the site investigations and will be producing a report of their findings that will be made available in due course.
13th August 2021
Following the completion of the harvest, archaeological trenching works on the site will shortly be commencing and are expected to take up to 6 weeks to complete, depending on the weather. These investigations will allow us to agree with Bedford Borough Council which areas of the site will need to be safeguarded and cannot be used for development. A letter was sent to properties around the site to notify them of the works and, for further information, you can download the letter using the button below.
22nd June 2021
The Great Barford West team have completed some detailed surveys of the site and are continuing to gather all relevant technical information needed for plans to be evolved. This will include detailed archeaological works over the entirety of the site.
Discussions with Bedford Council are progressing, with information from the surveys now being provided to the Council. We will discuss all relevant technical aspects related to the site, including archeaology, heritage and how the development can sensitively relate to the Conservation Area.
Once this work has been completed, which is expected in Autumn this year, options for the site will be developed and we will undertake a consultation with the local community to gather feedback on the initial ideas. For further details on timescales, please see the 'Local Engagement' page of this site.
10th June 2021
The Great Barford West team met with Great Barford Neighbourhood Plan Group to provide updates on relevant survey work that has been undertaken and to discuss timescales moving forward.
The team have been carrying out preparatory over the past few months, including discussions with the Neighbourhood Plan Group, to help move forward plans for the site.