51 sites around Leighton-Linslade are open for comment until Monday 17 August, including 149 hectares west of Linslade and 294 at Heath and Reach. Where they are, how to respond.
Central Bedfordshire Council’s consultation on the land put forward for its next Local Plan closes on Monday 17 August 2026. Eight of the sites are inside Leighton-Linslade parish, including one block of 149 hectares on the western edge of Linslade, and another 43 sit in the ring of parishes around the town: Heath and Reach, Stanbridge, Hockliffe, Eggington, Tilsworth and Billington. After Monday the council stops taking comments and starts assessing which sites go forward. (Central Bedfordshire Council, submitted sites consultation)
Nothing has been decided. Every one of these sites was offered by a landowner or developer in the council’s call for sites, or found by the council’s own search, and the council says putting a site forward “does not mean it will be included in the Local Plan or that any decision has been made about it”. But this is the one moment when the council is asking residents which of the sites in their own ward they would rather see built, and which they object to and why. (Consultation introduction, Central Bedfordshire Council)
The eight sites inside Leighton-Linslade
The council’s consultation portal lists submitted sites by parish, giving each a reference number, its ward, its area in hectares and the use it has been promoted for. The location descriptions below are ours: we took the site boundaries the council publishes on its interactive map and worked out where each one is centred. Check the council’s map for the exact outline before you comment. (Leighton-Linslade sites, Central Bedfordshire Council)
| Site | Ward | Hectares | Promoted for | Where it is centred (our reading of the map) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 136785 | Leighton-Linslade West | 149.07 | Residential, employment, green energy, standalone green space, other | Farmland west of Linslade around Wing Road and Southcott, a block roughly 1.6km by 1.7km |
| 136588 | Leighton-Linslade West | 9.31 | Residential | North-west Linslade, near Rothschild Road |
| 136636 | Leighton-Linslade North | 5.54 | Residential, employment, standalone green space, other | Off Vandyke Road, north-east of the town |
| 136717 | Leighton-Linslade North | 1.72 | Residential, other | Vandyke Road, further out |
| 136589 | Leighton-Linslade South | 1.52 | Employment | Southern edge of the town, near the newer estates off Aurora Rise |
| 136585 | Leighton-Linslade South | 1.02 | Residential | Southern edge, near Whinchat Gardens |
| 135283 | Leighton-Linslade West | 0.32 | Residential | Southcott, near Stephenson Close |
| 135350 | Leighton-Linslade West | 0.25 | Residential, employment | Leighton Road, Linslade |
Together the eight cover 168.75 hectares, and 149 of that is one site. Site 136785 is by a wide margin the biggest single piece of land put forward in the parish. It has been promoted for a mix of housing, employment, green energy, green space and “other”, which the council says can mean schools, community buildings and supporting infrastructure. (Leighton-Linslade sites)
The ring around the town
The bigger numbers are outside the parish boundary, in the villages that share the town’s roads, schools and station.
- Heath and Reach: 9 sites. The largest is 136539, at 293.97 hectares, promoted for residential, employment, green energy, green space and other uses. It is centred on farmland off Eastern Way, north-east of the town, and its boundary spans roughly 2.1km by 2.5km. The parish also has two green energy sites (22.67 and 11.25 hectares), a 6.69-hectare employment site off Woburn Road, a 5.31-hectare site for Gypsy and Traveller pitches, and four smaller housing sites. (Heath and Reach sites)
- Stanbridge: 15 sites, the most of any parish near the town. They include a 22.41-hectare housing site off Leighton Road on the town’s south-eastern edge, a 16.85-hectare housing site near Stanbridgeford, a 10.02-hectare site for a standalone lorry rest area on Leighton Road, three employment sites and four small sites for Gypsy and Traveller pitches. (Stanbridge sites)
- Hockliffe: 9 sites, dominated by 136668 at 67.54 hectares for housing and other uses, centred on the east side of the village near Ninelands. (Hockliffe sites)
- Tilsworth: 6 sites, including two of 28.75 and 30 hectares for housing and other uses along the A5 corridor. (Tilsworth sites)
- Eggington: 3 sites, the largest 26.76 hectares for housing off Hockliffe Road at Clipstone, plus a 3.14-hectare housing and green space site off Vandyke Road that sits in the Leighton-Linslade North ward. (Eggington sites)
- Billington: 1 site, 6.59 hectares for employment beside the A505. (Billington sites)
Why this round matters more than usual
Two facts sit behind the consultation. Central Bedfordshire has said that from 22 July 2026 it can show only 3.93 years of deliverable housing land against the five years national policy requires, which tilts appeals in favour of housing on unallocated land until a new plan is adopted. And the new plan, running to 2050, has to allocate sites: the council’s own words on every parish page are “we will need to allocate sites in the Local Plan, so we are also keen to understand, if you had to pick some, which sites you would prefer to be allocated in the parish”. Our planning news page has the background on the supply figure and the plan timetable. (Leighton-Linslade sites)
Across the whole of Central Bedfordshire, 626 sites were put forward in the call for sites between November 2024 and January 2025. An initial assessment discounted 174 for housing, for being too small to deliver ten homes, for having no landowner consent, or for being cut off from any settlement without being large enough to stand alone, and left 452 open for comment. Sites dropped for housing may still be considered for employment or Gypsy and Traveller use. (Call for Sites, Central Bedfordshire Council)
What it means for you
- Comments close on Monday 17 August 2026. The council has not published a time of day, so treat the working day as the limit.
- Comment on your own patch. The council asks residents to focus on sites in their own ward or local area, and specifically wants to know which sites you would prefer to see allocated, not only which you oppose. Say why: flood risk, access, a footpath, a school that is already full. Local knowledge is what the exercise is for.
- How: open the consultation on the council’s portal, pick your parish, and use the comment box next to each site reference. You need an account on the portal to submit. The interactive map shows every boundary.
- This is not a planning application. A comment here counts only towards the Local Plan. If one of these sites already has an application on it, that has to be commented on separately through the planning process.
- What happens next: the sites go through detailed assessment against flood risk, heritage, access to services and transport, then the council’s timetable moves to a second formal consultation between September and November 2026.
Sources
- Central Bedfordshire Council: submitted sites consultation, for the dates and the purpose of the consultation.
- Central Bedfordshire Council: Call for Sites, for the 626 and 174 figures, the discount criteria and the interactive map link.
- Central Bedfordshire Council consultation portal, Submitted Sites Consultation: Introduction, Leighton-Linslade, Heath and Reach, Stanbridge, Hockliffe, Tilsworth, Eggington, Billington, for every site reference, ward, area and proposed use.
- Central Bedfordshire Council interactive map of submitted sites, whose published site boundaries we used to describe where each site is centred and how far the largest ones extend.
- Central Bedfordshire Council: five-year housing land supply, for the 3.93-year figure.
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