Today I met the Mayor of Bedford with six other Conservative Councillors to raise our concerns about controversial proposals to build 1,400 houses on 19 areas of Borough Council land including Elstow. On Wednesday I had a private meeting with the Head of Economic Development to discuss the proposal to build 15 houses on the narrow strip of land separating Elstow village from Bedford.
The Mayor was generally sympathetic to our concerns but he declined to remove any of the controversial sites from the proposed Bedford Development Framework.
Elstow is an historic village with its 11th Century Abbey Church, its 16th Century Moot Hall, housing a museum of John Bunyan memorabilia and old timbered houses. John Bunyan, author of Pilgrims Progress, was born and married in Elstow. This proposal threatens the very existence of our tiny historic village (300 houses) which would disappear into urban Bedford (pop.80,000).
I shall continue to campaign to remove the Elstow site from the Bedford Development Framework before it goes out to public consultation in August 2009. Your comments are welcome.
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