Progress made on 5,000 home 'Linmere' development north of Houghton Regis

Phases one and two at Linmere are moving ahead rapidly, with many roads and parks from the first phase already complete.

The Lidl supermarket, farmstead café and village hall will all be open before Christmas.

Around one third of the Linmere site will be green open space - a combination of parkland, wildlife corridors, allotments, sports pitches, play areas and walking routes.

As well as delivering up to 5,150 homes over the next 15 years, Linmere will see the creation of two new primary schools and an extension to Houghton Regis s existing Thornhill Primary school, which is due to open in September.

At Kingsland Campus, a new ten-form secondary school will open in September 2022. Houstone School (pronounced “how-stone”) has been chosen by academy trust Advantage Schools as the name for the new secondary school.

Nigel Reid, development director of HRMC said: "We are pleased at the positive feedback and we look forward to the opening of the new primary school and Farmstead later this year – a major milestone.”

Once completed, it is anticipated the overall development will contribute more than £50m towards local education, transport, open space, and leisure facilities.

The project has already provided a financial contribution to deliver the A5-M1 Link Road, which opened in 2017.

For further information, visit the project website www.linmere.com.