Plans for three drive-through cafés and a major employment development near Kempston were withdrawn from Bedford Borough Council Planning Committee’s agenda yesterday (Monday), after the Environment Agency (EA) lodged a late objection.
The application proposes three drive-through café or restaurant units and a series of commercial and industrial buildings on land between Ampthill Road, Interchange Way and the A421.
Council planning officers had recommended the scheme for approval, subject to conditions and a legal agreement.
But an Environment Agency note, referenced as 23 March 2026 by the council’s planning portal, said: “Upon reviewing the site-specific modelling submitted with application 25/01169/MAF, it became evident that the development site is in fact located within Flood Zone 3b (functional floodplain).”
In its advice to the council, the agency said a functional floodplain is land where water “has to flow or be stored in times of flood”.
It said only water-compatible uses and essential infrastructure are permitted in Flood Zone 3b, subject to the Exception Test. Adding that the proposed development did not fall within those categories and was therefore contrary to national policy.
“The Environment Agency would therefore advise that planning permission be refused on policy grounds,” the note said.
The agency also said that a related floodplain compensation scheme, submitted under a separate application (26/00157/MAF), was still undergoing technical review.
It described the proposed compensation scheme as “complex” and relied on land “not directly contiguous with the functional floodplain being lost”.
Planning committee chair, cllr Jonathan Abbott (Lib Dem, Clapham and Oakley) simply said the application was withdrawn and wouldn’t be heard at the meeting.
However, cllr Graeme Coombes (Conservative, Wixams and Wilstead) said on Facebook he was due to speak about the application, but that he had been advised the application was “withdrawn due to an objection from the Environment Agency”.
The application was due before the committee because Stewartby Parish Council objected, and cllr Marc Frost (Conservative, Wixams and Wilstead) had called it in.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
