The fifth section not only presents the environment as a valued benefit to resident but also necessary to attract high value-added businesses by presenting the area as a desirable place to live and work. It challenges the suggestion that residents have a choice between development and a pleasant environment.
5.1 Environment
The first requirement is to present West Bletchley as a suitable place to live and work. We must try to preserve advantages we already have and oppose measures, which will detract from that environment.
Already scarce open space is being rapidly depleted. Adequate open space and good design are essential but managing the trade-off with desirable development will not be easy. A small-scale local plan is needed to distinguish areas of prime value to the community and those where development of a specified type would enhance the environment. With the increasing cost of maintaining even a minimal standard of public space, the council should be exploring funding sources to provide additional environmental benefits. The council should particularly target initiatives, which are sustainable commercially, reduce maintenance costs or contribute to the improvement of the community.
5.2 Station/Bletchley Park Area
The area around the Station, Bletchley Park and the station is regarded as suitable for commercial development for shops, cafes and as a transfer point between trains and buses. In may be necessary to draw attention to the advantages of inter-city trains using Bletchley under the new arrangements. Such development might be encouraged around the forecourt and on either side of Sherwood Drive for say 100 yards either side of the station entrance and alongside the footpath to Bletchley Park complementing the proposed innovation area. Hotel accommodation and leisure facilities along Sherwood Drive to the north of the Station should also be welcomed if proposed. We must also be supportive of college expansion although careful of preserving adequate open space. In order not to undo the economic advantages of training at the college we should try to ensure that negotiation and not obstruction on our part meet the objectives. The most important aspect is to encourage innovative industry in the area surrounding Bletchley Park. For the type of industry, which we need, the environment is an important factor. The proposed reduction of size of the Museum site offers an opportunity to re-negotiate the area set aside for housing. These proposals are generally compatible with the EDAW report but firm policies on environmental aspects are needed to limit alternative interpretations from developers.
5.3 Town Centre
Central Bletchley requires a more flexible approach to planning usage. This is recognised in the EDAW report. More restaurants and pubs will in general be advantageous so the enforcement of strict ratios is not acceptable. The primary driver of development will be the selection of niche businesses and their consequent requirements. A new look at the layout of Central Bletchley is needed. A more intimate shopping centre will provide a more user-friendly ambience. This may be brought about by groupings around relatively small common areas and possibly (subject to disability considerations) with multiple levels. At the same time clear sight-lines must be preserved and narrow passages avoided. Shopping is currently dependent on easy access particularly by car. Queensway itself is not really a through road and this should be recognised by traffic management schemes. One valuable cosmetic contribution would be a level surface (i.e. without kerbs). Consideration should be given to landscaping and planting schemes utilising the existing tree line to provide functional divisions laterally and transversely. Although we should recognise that access by car for short stays is important to many businesses in the short term, such an approach will pave the way for pedestrianisation, market expansion open air cafes etc. Better pedestrian access is needed. It is feared, however, that the EDAW approach of achieving this by constricting traffic flow in Saxon Street may be deemed counter-productive unless much further research into traffic flows is undertaken. Given bridges to the station are feasible, shops at first floor level might overcome any psychological barrier presented by Saxon Street.