New homes plan will be scrapped

At a meeting at the Town Hall on Monday night, Luton Borough Council’s executive committee passed a motion to withdraw its current ‘core strategy’ for housing, which has been prepared jointly with Central Bedfordshire Council.

Councillors agreed that a new replacement strategy should be prepared, which should include development to the west of Luton, where those behind the Bushwood development scheme want new housing to go.

Bushwood say a new stadium for Luton Town Football Club is at the heart of their plans.

Luton Borough Council originally wanted thousands of new homes to be built on land to the east of Luton, in Hertfordshire, in addition to development in Leighton Buzzard, land to the north of Houghton Regis and land to the north of Luton.

But the east of Luton option was dropped in late 2009 after mass opposition.

The current strategy has already been handed to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in March, and was due to go to an Examination in Public later this year.

But Councillor Roy Davis told Monday night’s meeting that there would not be enough time to include the west of Luton plans in the document.

He said: “Were we to have offered the planning inspector the scale of change we were looking at, he wouldn’t have accepted that.

“The last course of action is to withdraw the core strategy.

“We need a new strategy which takes account of sustainable development to the west of Luton.”

Councillor Davis came under fire from his own party over the withdrawal.

Councillor Dave Taylor said: “Quite honestly another four years is unacceptable.

“We decided long ago that we needed housing outside the borough boundaries because we are physically going to run out of land.”

Councillor Davis replied: “It won’t be a physical start again. I don’t believe it will be four years but it could be somewhere close to that in order to realise our ambitions.”