W.N. Developments Ltd: EIA of redevelopment at Ampthill Road Bedford

Services Provided

Temple Group was appointed by WN Developments Ltd to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for a proposed major mixed-use redevelopment of the former Camford Works and adjoining land at Ampthill Road, Bedford.

The EIA was part of an outline planning application submitted to Bedford Borough Council.

The site, totalling around 12 hectares, was previously used for industrial purposes, including the manufacture of automobile components.  The proposal is for around 580 residential units, 37,000 sq m of commercial space, a hotel (including conference facilities) and retail and open space.

Working alongside West & Partners, Temple firstly helped agree the scope of the EIA and the assessment methodology with Bedford Borough Council. In agreeing this at the outset, Temple helped ensure that the EIA was limited to those topics which could give rise to significant effects, thus streamlining the work and cost.  These topics included:

• Air quality;
• Contaminated land;
• Ecology;
• Land use and planning;
• Noise and vibration;
• Socio-economics;
• Surface water and
• Waste

The EIA and Environmental Statement were completed within 6 and 3 months respectively.

Benefits

The EIA process and production of ES resulted in a number of benefits to the client including:

• options for the mitigation were fully investigated, including the reconfiguration of the layout and design of residential units to address significant noise intrusion from an adjoining scrap yard operation;
• the timely input of mitigation recommendations as part of the design development process;
• being able to accommodate additional design and input information at short notice and assimilate this into the ES;
• taking a responsible approach to the extent and nature of the specialist studies to ensure these were proportionate to the ES requirements, thereby avoiding unnecessary studies at an early stage;
• ensuring that the client was fully aware of the limitations and assumptions made as part of the EIA and ES and the full extent and cost of further studies that would be required as part of a detailed planning application.