Marston Vale – 2050 - Your Vision for the Future
The Marston Moretaine Action Group is delighted to invite you and (many others) to a conference on Saturday, April 18th (times tbc) in the Forest Centre when alongside all the other Action Groups / Community Organisations we will begin to design a Peoples Vision of what the Marston Vale should look like in 2050.
The scope of the conference is ambitious, forward looking, seeks to build on our recent success and reflects the desire of our communities that we continue to defend our distinctive village way of life. The conference will be a further opportunity for those communities within the Marston Vale to make their views known about the future. We know there is no shortage of plans, frameworks, regional spatial strategies or announcements from on high emphasising the need for economic regeneration and future housing needs. We also know many of these plans are couched in terms / jargon that alienate / disempower local people. So having been the voice for our communities within the Marston Vale we mustn’t shut up. We remain an area targeted for development and we could be presented with further proposals for New Towns / Science Parks / Energy from Waste Plants. We are of course moving into new municipal territory with the Central Beds Unitary Authority which will include substantial urban neighbourhoods like Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard / Linslade and it’s important that we build relationships and make new friends.
The conference will begin with the judging of the Marston Vale Photo Competition by a panel including His Grace the Duke of Bedford (click here for more information) and there will be some guest speakers with plenty of time for audience participation.
We shouldn’t expect our conference to produce a comprehensive detailed plan but now the pressure for the eco town is off it would be useful for all the Action Groups to have a debate about what we are ‘for’ as ‘against’. There is a need for an intelligent conversation about the future which balances the desire for conservation and future economic needs. It has been suggested that Marston Vale should aim for National Forest status – if that was ever realised how would housing need be met ? These and many other questions should ensure a lively debate. There is also an aspiration that as representatives of our communities we arrive at ‘one voice for the Vale’; we may have to be content with ensuring ‘every’ voice is heard and that is why your participation in the conference will be so welcome.
Please see below for an outline agenda – once the final speakers are confirmed together with times the information will be update on the website.
We expect the conference to be well subscribed and places are limited. We look forward to seeing you there.
Kind regards
Hugh Roberts
Chair
MMETAG
www.MMETAG.com
Draft outline of Conference Agenda
1. Welcome and Introduction
2. A Community Heard
3. Communities Designing their Future
Q&A Session
4. Demystifying Planning – the Planning Challenges & Context
5. Conservation and Economic Development in the Marston Vale – Mutually Exclusive?
Q&A Session
6. Bedford Borough Regeneration and the Northern Marston Vale – A shared future?
7. Milton Keynes – Future Shape?
Q&A Session
8. Conclusions and Next Steps
