Policy information sourced from the Biggleswade Neighbourhood Plan

BTC1: Development in the Town Centre

  1. Within the defined Town Centre, development will be supported where it maintains or enhances the Town Centre’s character, vitality and competitiveness as a market town.
  2. Where such development involves identified opportunity sites, it should take account of the ‘Town Centre Opportunity Sites Guidance Note’ that follows this policy.
  3. Within the Town Centre primary frontages (Primary Shopping Area), ground floor frontage units should remain in town centre uses, including retail, food and drink, professional services, leisure, performance, community facilities, hotels, health and fitness, visitor attractions, cinema, arts and culture, personal services, recreation, and culture and other uses open to the public.
  4. Residential uses and other uses not-open to the general public will be supported for upper floors within the town centre, but will not be supported in ground floor street frontages.
  5. Within Town Centre primary frontages (Primary Shopping Area), shop fronts must be retained or provided at ground floor level, meeting the requirements of Policy BPD3.
  6. To ensure the efficient use of land, parking provision within redevelopment schemes should be accommodated within the building footprint of the scheme or through multi-storey provision, where possible, and where the scheme complements the character of the area, meeting the requirements of Policies BPD1 and BH1.
  7. Where surface parking is the only practicable alternative, it should be designed so that it does not dominate the street scene and is well integrated within the development, meeting the requirements of Policies BPD1 and BH1.
  8. The redevelopment of surface car parks in the town centre will be supported, providing the development includes an equivalent car-parking provision within the scheme or in close proximity, where practicable and having regard to other relevant policies of this Plan.

For more information, please visit the Biggleswade Neighbourhood Plan