Landowners have joined a mad scramble for building rights which could see more than 20,000 new homes built on up to 300 sites across Bedford over the next 13 years.

Bedford Borough Council has invited proposals for sites people would be prepared to sell off as part of the authority's development framework.

But the scale of the potential masterplan could "destroy whole villages", according to one councillor leading opponents.

Particularly large-scale proposals include:

** Kempston Hardwick Broadmead, 2,300 new homes
** Ravensden, 831 new homes, most south of Graze Hill
** Great Denham, 510 new homes on the Biddenham loop
** Clapham, 1,059 new homes
** Bromham, 5,280 new homes
** Bedford, 1,295 new homes
** Willington, 910 new homes.

Also mooted are other projects, ranging from a holiday fishing village at Wyboston to a new magistrates court, plus:

** New medical centre at Sharnbrook with doctors, dentists and pharmacy
** 20 traveller pitches at Willington
** 90-bed care home in Wilstead
** New health centre for Great Barford
** Traveller site at Dog Farm, Cople
** Two million sq foot commercial premises at Medbury Farm, Elstow
** And a hotel in Cardington.

Coun Charles Royden (Lib Dem, Brickhill) said: "This would just mean Bedford sprawled out into all the villages. It would change the whole character of Bedford and north Bedfordshire for the worse.

"Any development needs to be done for the benefit of people who live there, not for landowners to maximise their profits. The quality of life is far more important than some mad dash for cash.

"Every development has to be sustainable and thought out. You don't do it like this, by destroying whole villages."

Last month the Town Hall published a list of sites owned by the borough which could be included in the plan – a move branded by some councillors as "selling off the family silver". That paperwork included the prospect of 1,390 homes, 28 flats, two hotels and commercial sites.

Coun Royden said: "This would remove all the green spaces that help to define Bedfordshire and make it a pleasant place to live. The council has already been negligent in the plan to build on land owned by the council, now all the private landowners have followed the lead. When you talk about building an extra 600 homes on land at the top of Cleat Hill in Ravensden, you have to think what that will do to a village."

A Town Hall spokesman said: "It is likely that many sites will be discounted at an early stage. Only those sites that meet the council's adopted planning policies and are suitable to meet local identified needs will be put forward."


See the full list of proposed sites here