Anyone been down the A428 / 421 from Cambridge to Bedford recently ? Massive development / loss of agricultural land

[JP1]

As title , the amount of land being developed along these roads and loosely centred on St Neots is mind blowing

 

[onthehoof]

As title , the amount of land being developed along these roads and loosely centred on St Neots is mind blowing

Yes and when they get the new A428 done there’ll be another few hundred acres built on, carry on to Bedford just the same then you’re at Milton Keynes, another day turn of to Camborne and have a spin round there, including Cambridge this must be the most heavily developed corridor in the country

 

[JP1]

Yes and when they get the new A428 done there’ll be another few hundred acres built on, carry on to Bedford just the same then you’re at Milton Keynes, another day turn of to Camborne and have a spin round there, including Cambridge this must be the most heavily developed corridor in the country

On some of the best arable ground in the country ?

 

[Exfarmer]

I use that road frequently and it is shocking the worst thing is I nearly bought a farm in the middle of it 40 years ago
Actually not sure how good a lot is some of that was never ploughed up in the war, it is extremely heavy

 

[Bongodog]

St Neots is now the the 2nd largest place by population in Cambridgeshire (Peterborough is a seperate authority) It has literally trebled in size over the past 20 years.

Along the A428 section from St Neots to Cambridge Cambourne is nearly complete and I don't think there's much more in the way of housing planned at present.
The land is all heavy clay, good cereal land but not good for root crops as a very prominent local farmer found out a few years back, why he though he knew better than his dad and grandad I'm not sure

 

[Pilatus]

I don’t travel much but every town /city one goes by seems to expanding rapidly!!
To cap it all the Governments policies are to take the land that is left out of production, beggars belief

 

[lloyd]

Not just this country either.Over in the states Tennessee is reported to be on
track to lose over 2000,000 acres of farmland.

 

[David.]

Did you mean 2 million or 200k

 

[tractorsandcows]

I use that road frequently and it is shocking the worst thing is I nearly bought a farm in the middle of it 40 years ago
Actually not sure how good a lot is some of that was never ploughed up in the war, it is extremely heavy

The worst thing is you didn't buy it

 

[David.]

Lot of that land around there belongs to Cambridge Colleges doesn't it?

 

[Exfarmer]

St Neots is now the the 2nd largest place by population in Cambridgeshire (Peterborough is a seperate authority) It has literally trebled in size over the past 20 years.

Along the A428 section from St Neots to Cambridge Cambourne is nearly complete and I don't think there's much more in the way of housing planned at present.
The land is all heavy clay, good cereal land but not good for root crops as a very prominent local farmer found out a few years back, why he though he knew better than his dad and grandad I'm not sure

rape was the making of that land , there were only so many Brussel sprouts you could grow, which was the main break before that

 

[grainboy]

Yes and guess who owned lots of it,
Bedf Borough, !!
so 25 odd years ago, designated as Marston Vale forest, now all infilled with houses and commercial,,

 

[Bald Rick]

Meanwhile, in Wales, all road building projects including the 3rd crossing on to the Sainted Isle are stopped in the name of Climate Change

(more likely bugger all in the budget as they cannot get any spending plans right or waste money on entirely unnecessary things)

 

[teslacoils]

Surely, development, building etc is the best use of land? Or is this a "get the hankerchief out for the lack of food security or options for new entrants" post?

 

[lloyd]

Did you mean 2 million or 200k

2 million .
Food growing land area is getting much less in the states.

 

[JP1]

St Neots is now the the 2nd largest place by population in Cambridgeshire (Peterborough is a seperate authority) It has literally trebled in size over the past 20 years.

Along the A428 section from St Neots to Cambridge Cambourne is nearly complete and I don't think there's much more in the way of housing planned at present.
The land is all heavy clay, good cereal land but not good for root crops as a very prominent local farmer found out a few years back, why he though he knew better than his dad and grandad I'm not sure

But the scale of the infrastructure going in from St Neots towards Milton Keynes is off the scale

Incredible amounts of trees , fences being taken out , those silly mesh barriers a foot high, trackway and sewers going in

I can’t be truly accurate but along perhaps 5 - 8 miles it must amount to a good few thousand acres ?

 

[grainboy]

It’s also known as the Oxford / Cambridge Arc, linking the two areas of technology,

The negative is reduced lack of water absorption, and increased water run off, leading to more flooding lower down.

 

[robs1]

It’s also known as the Oxford / Cambridge Arc, linking the two areas of technology,

The negative is reduced lack of water absorption, and increased water run off, leading to more flooding lower down.

I believe all new housing and development is meant to have storage for roof water to allow it to "soak" away slowly. We have had a lot of development round here which surprisingly seems to have reduced some flooding as the water now runs to the river faster as is gone before the rainfall further upstream runs off the land and into the river. Obviously that only works for heavy rain not the continuous rain we have had this winter

 

[farmer james]

I believe all new housing and development is meant to have storage for roof water to allow it to "soak" away slowly. We have had a lot of development round here which surprisingly seems to have reduced some flooding as the water now runs to the river faster as is gone before the rainfall further upstream runs off the land and into the river. Obviously that only works for heavy rain not the continuous rain we have had this winter

I live in an old mill halfway beteeen MK and Bedford on the great ouse, this winter the river has been high constantly. I operate the three sluice gates for the EA, I have not put the middle down since the start of January and all three were up for the bulk of February.
It comes up quicker now from Olney run off before that from MK gets to us.
It is only going to get worse, I worry the house will flood at some point, which it has not done since at least 1911 when the family came here.
FJ

 

[Exfarmer]

I live in an old mill halfway beteeen MK and Bedford on the great ouse, this winter the river has been high constantly. I operate the three sluice gates for the EA, I have not put the middle down since the start of January and all three were up for the bulk of February.
It comes up quicker now from Olney run off before that from MK gets to us.
It is only going to get worse, I worry the house will flood at some point, which it has not done since at least 1911 when the family came here.
FJ

did it not in 47?