Central Bedfordshire Local Plan 2050 Scoping Consultation

Ends on 3 June 2026 (24 days remaining)

Central Bedfordshire Local Plan (2050) - Scoping Consultation

The Local Plan is an important document that helps to protect our environment, and decides where new homes, jobs, green space and community facilities will be provided. We are preparing a new Local Plan that will set out how Central Bedfordshire will grow, up to 2050. The new Local Plan is for you. It's about where you live, grow, work and play - so we want you to be at the heart of how we prepare this plan.

We need to plan carefully for the homes and jobs we need to provide to make sure they are built in the right place, with the necessary facilities and services, while protecting and enhancing the environment as much as possible.

Three golden threads will run through our new Local Plan:

sustainability - limiting the impact on the environment and giving back to nature as much as possible
accessibility - designing inclusive places for everyone to live life to the fullest
health and wellbeing – designing places to have a positive impact on our physical and mental health

Without a Local Plan, development will still happen, but it is more likely to be in locations that we would consider unsuitable. A Local Plan still means development, but we’ll have more say over where, and how, it happens. Your views matter to us.

In 2024, we asked you what was important in making somewhere a great place to live, and what you would like to see included in the Local Plan. Since then, the government has introduced changes to national planning policies and guidance on creating Local Plans (known as the National Planning Policy Framework or NPPF) and the new Local Plan must comply with this.

The process for creating a plan has also changed, and new legislation introduced by the Government in March 2026 means that we are required to hold a formal scoping consultation. This scoping consultation is another important opportunity foryou to help shape the new local plan before it is written. At this stage, the council is not making decisions about specific development sites but is asking for views on the key issues facing the area. It does not replace the earlier engagement and feedback and is an opportunity to confirm whether what we heard previously is still important and we’re also asking new questions about engagement that will help inform our engagement strategy for the next stages of the Local Plan. The feedback from the scoping consultation will help to build and sense check the plan to ensure it focuses on the right priorities of our communities, such as housing, the environment, infrastructure and climate change.

The scoping consultation should only take 15-20 minutes to complete and is open until 3 June 2026.

Your feedback will help shape the future of Central Bedfordshire.

Complete the survey Scoping Consultation

Useful links:

For further information or support please contact the Local Plans Team by email at localplan@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

For instructions on how to use the system and make comments, please see our help guide.

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