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Monitoring 

By law, we are required to monitor the performance of adopted plans and the progress of emerging plans.

The following documents are made available (in PDF format) detailing the performance of the preceding financial year.

Five-year supply of deliverable housing sites 

This statement sets out the latest position on Bedford Borough’s housing land supply over the next five years. 

Authority monitoring report 

This report includes comprehensive information across a range of indicators to monitor the application and performance of local plan policies. It also includes information relating to neighbourhood plans and other related activities.

To make monitoring information available sooner, we prepare and publish individual thematic reports earlier in the year.

Infrastructure funding statements

This statement provides an overview of income and expenditure from developer contributions (known as planning obligations) through the community infrastructure levy and section 106 agreements. This money is used towards the funding of infrastructure provision associated with new development. Specific information can be found on our Community Infrastructure Levy webpages.

Documents relating to five-year land supply:

Latest monitoring reports from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025:

Annual monitoring reports: 

Previous reports

Previous thematic monitoring reports and single combined reports:

Delivery

We use various tools such as land registers, article 4 directions and assessments to help deliver and manage development in Bedford Borough.

Common land and town or village greens

We maintain a register of common land and village greens. This register is a statutory document (Commons Registration Act, 1965) and shows all such registered land in our area. 

The register is split into three parts.

  • Part 1: Describes the land and its boundaries, details the date it became common land or a village green, and who registered it.
  • Part 2: Shows who has common rights over the land and what those rights are, for example, sheep or cattle grazing, the right to remove gravel and stone.
  • Part 3: Details who owns the land (if registered).

For more information about land ownership, use and rights about common lands, including restrictions or exclusions, please read the GOV.UK's commons registration guidance. The Land Register alters this register to record changes in ownership, mortgages and leases. 

We carry out searches of the register, usually when a property is being bought or sold via a solicitor. Search certificates will reveal whether land is registered as common or village green, if there are rights of common, and whether ownership is registered. We aim to reply to searches within five working days.

If you wish to view/search the location of a particular town or village green or common land, please email local.landcharges@bedford.gov.uk.

To register the land as a green, you must demonstrate under the Commons Act that it “has been used by local people for lawful sports and pastimes ‘as of right’ (ie without permission, force or secrecy) for at least 20 years.

Application forms can be downloaded from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs website.

Brownfield Land Register

By law, we must publish a Brownfield Land Register at least annually. This register lists suitable, available and achievable previously developed sites which have the potential to meet the borough’s identified housing needs, based on the best available information. 

This register lists those sites that are capable of supporting at least five dwellings and meet the government's definition of previously developed land as outlined in the National Planning Policy Framework. However, this register does not determine whether a site should be allocated within the development plan or granted planning permission, including alternative uses to housing. 

The register includes a link to an online map of the borough that shows each of the sites included in the register, with a search function. [PW4] [PW5] 

We do not accept liability for any omissions or factual inaccuracies that may be contained within it. Applicants seeking planning permission are advised to carry out their own assessments and analysis of any site and not rely only on the information within this register.

HMO article 4 direction

An article 4 direction has been established to manage the impact of small HMOs in the urban areas of Bedford and Kempston, where permitted development rights allowing the change of use of dwelling houses to small houses in multiple occupation (known as HMOs) have been withdrawn. The direction has been in force since November 2020. 

It means that planning permission is needed before a single-family dwelling house can be converted into a small HMO (ie where three to six unrelated people share basic amenities, such as a kitchen or bathroom).

You can also use our online mapping system to view the extent of this area and search specific addresses or locations (see article 4 direction C3 to C4 use).

Self and custom build housing

Self-build and custom housebuilding are forms of housing where individuals or groups build their own homes. 

We are required by law to hold a register of people who are interested in self-build and custom housebuilding in Bedford Borough.

This register also includes people wanting to acquire serviced plots of land to build their own homes. 

We consider the register when carrying out our functions in relation to planning, housing, regeneration and the disposal of any of our own land. 

The register is not publicly available. Registration does not guarantee that a suitable plot to meet your specific needs will be made available. Please note that the purpose of the register is to provide evidence about the scale of demand for this type of housing in the borough. 

The Authority Monitoring Report contains indicators that show how many individuals and associations have been entered onto the register, as well as the number of plots that have been counted towards the supply of self-build and custom housebuilding.  

Information on how to have your details put onto our register can be found in our self and custom build housing webpages