Les Thompson

Mid Beds Council Development Control Committee decided at their meeting on October 15th to defer a decision on the planning application to convert Flitwick Mill to a domestic residence for three months. This is to allow time for a feasibility study into alternative proposals that could include restoration as a working mill, facilities for education and community use, and as a possible visitor centre the Flitwick Moor Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).  This is good news for all those who have expressed a wish to see the mill restored, but it also means a lot of hard work will need to be done in a very short space of time if a sustainable future for the mill is to be realised. This work must involve the owner.  

We will need people with expertise to come forward to support the project and to help with the feasibility study.

Can you help?
There is a rapidly growing groundswell of opinion that the mill should be preserved for the benefit of the town and its people and not converted to a private home. Would you be prepared to lend your support to a project to aquire and restore the mill?

The mill is considered to have a number of features that make it unique regionally and even nationally and of considerable historic and technological interest.  A recent survey by a specialist from the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) indicates that the milling machinery is still in relatively good condition and could be restored to active use.  Developments at Bromham Mill have shown that there could be a viable future for Flitwick Mill. 

If you would like to see copies of the owner’s planning application documents, you can access them here by clicking on the application number:
Application No. 07/01836/LB   Listed Building approval
Application No. 07/01837/FULL   Conversion of existing mill to dwelling house.
To read a text only version of the March 2008 SPAB Report on Flitwick Mill click here.

Do you have any memories or old photographs of the mill that you would like to share?
Contact me at: les.thompson@midbeds.gov.uk

Unitary Council for Central Bedfordshire

What it means for Flitwick
The new Central Bedfordshire unitary council is being formed by combining the Mid Beds and South Beds district councils. This new council will provide ALL the services that are now the responsibility of Mid-Beds, South Beds and Bedfordshire County Council, including education, roads, social services, planning, waste collection, benefits, and environmental health. Some of these services will be delivered jointly with the new North Beds Council to achieve economies of scale and cost savings. Fltwick Town Council will continue to run local services like the cemetery, allotments, parks and open spaces

Electoral changes
Fresh elections will probably be held in May 2009 to form a new body of councillors. The combined area of Mid and South Beds currently has 103 district councilors and 33 county councillors. This total of 136 councillors will be reduced to just 66 in the new authority and some of the current electoral boundaries will change, including Flitwick East. Instead of two district council members and one county councillor representing Flitwick East, there will be two Central Beds councillors representing the extended consitituency Flitwick, Flitton and Greenfield.

Area Covered by Central Beds
The area served by the new council will stretch from Tempsford in the north-east to Dunstable in the south-west. The largest town will be Leighton-Linslade with Dunstable the next largest.

Three Centres
Despite Mid Beds District Council having recently built central offices costing £15 million, the new authority is likely to have three sets of offices: Dunstable, Chicksands and Bedford County Hall, because there is not enough space to house all the 2,700 Central Beds staff in the existing Dunstable and Chicksands buildings. Some 2,000 Central Beds staff will have to work from the former County Hall when the new unitary starts.

Finances
Mid Beds Council currently has cash savings of approximately £50 million pounds. However, South Beds has little or nothing in the way of a budget surplus and the County Council has a deficit which some estimtes place in the region of £200 million. The financial situation of Central Beds at start-up is still unclear, but it is almost certain that it will have little or nothing in the bank.  

Planning Applications
We believe that the current Tory proposals for the Development Control process (planning applications) in the new authority are crazy, undermine local democracy and will increase the time taken to make decisions. Despite attempts to get them to change their minds, the Tory dominated group steering the transition to the new authority are adamant that there will be ONLY ONE Development Control Committee for the whole of Central Beds.

• the danger of the different developers going-it-alone

• the commercial viability of the extra shops

• whether so many flats and apartments are really needed in the residential development

• the funding shortfall for the station multi-storey car park

• the commitment of Network Rail and First Capital Connect to the scheme.

The new plan responds to feedback from residents and interest groups following the consultation last November. Whilst some of the criticisms and concerns that were raised have been taken on board, in our view, many have not. For example, the future of the High Street shopping area is not considered; there is little in the plan to allay residents’ fears of increased Tesco dominance; the transport interchange is not thought through; and, pedestrian and cycle routes don’t fully reflect user and safety needs.

The position of the new Tesco petrol filling station has yet to be decided, with current options being either the site of the village hall, or the library.  Although Tesco would build a replacement, we think that Mid Beds must ensure that we get high quality, sustainable buildings, fit for purpose. It is clear that a lot more work is needed to make sure that the scheme delivers real benefits for the community.

It could take eight or more years to complete this scheme and the potential for developers to cut out parts of it, or go-it-alone is huge. 

We agree with Mid Beds Council’s decision to appoint a part-time project manager for the scheme, because this would increase the chances of keeping the development on track. Further, we believe that Tesco, the landowners and the developers must sign a binding agreement to complete the whole scheme as a pre-condition to any planning permissions being given.  

I have asked for copies of all the documents to be placed in the library, or alternatively you can access them on the Mid Beds website here