Car boot sale in Linslade refused planning permission as organisers' petition tops 1,000 signatures

Planning permission would have enabled the event to be held weekly on land east of the corner of Stoke Road and Old Linslade Road for five months of the year.

Organisers are currently drumming up support through a petition, which has attracted more than 1,000 signatures.

An application was submitted to Central Bedfordshire Council for a temporary change of use of the land to allow weekly car boot sales to be held between April and September for a five-year period, according to the planning notice.

The ten-and-a-half acre site is agricultural land to the north of Stoke Road beyond the settlement envelope of Leighton Linslade, within the South Bedfordshire greenbelt, according to a CBC planning officer’s report.

The site has been used for car boot sales between May and September on an annual basis since 2017, said the report.

“Two subsequent permissions were approved to renew this weekly permitted use. But these applications were withdrawn on the advice of planning officers because of iinaccuracies with the red line (planning) boundary.

“It failed to include an area of land used for overspill parking. With the need to include all development seeking to be regularised, a concurrent application was seeking to retrospectively regularise an internal access track.”

In the notice of refusal from the local authority, its service director development and economy Andrew Davie explained: “The council had positive engagement with the applicant in an attempt to narrow down the reasons for refusal.

“However, fundamental objections couldn’t be overcome. The applicant was invited to withdraw the proposals to seek pre-application advice before any resubmission, but didn’t agree to this.

“CBC has therefore acted accordingly, in line with the requirements of the Town and Country Planning (development management procedure) Order 2015.

“As the local planning authority CBC hereby gives notice of its decision to refuse permission for the development as shown on the submitted plans.

“The proposed development, if permitted, would result in an unacceptable intensification of traffic on Stoke Road and at the site access, causing congestion and hazards to all highway users. This is in conflict with policies of the Central Bedfordshire Local Plan and the national planning policy framework.”

Leighton-Linslade Town Council considers the five-year time period proposed is unreasonable and that a two-year temporary permission would be more suitable.

CBC highways department objected because “to allow this proposal would intensify traffic use of Stoke Road and the site access causing congestion and hazards to motorists and pedestrians”.

Although “very supportive of the car boot sale”, Independent Leighton Linslade West councillor Victoria Harvey hopes to “find a solution so that people can safely access it”.

She described the approach to the site as “between two ‘blind’ hilltops and so it’s very unsafe”. The town council has suggested previously that the car boot sale has become “a victim of its own success”.