Central  Government has approved both an East of England Plan and a Milton Keynes and South Midlands Plan.  The effect of having these two plans in place is that they together place an OBLIGATION on councils within their areas of applicability to meet their parts of the housing and other development targets contained within these plans (26,000 new homes by 2021).

 

For what is now the Luton and South Central Bedfordshire combined area a plan has been developed to meet their legal obligation - this is called their CORE STRATEGY.

 

One area concerned was originally covered by a combination of Luton Borough Council and what was South Bedfordshire Council (now become part of the new Central Bedfordshire Council).  These two original councils formed a joint planning committee called the “Luton & South Bedfordshire Joint Planning Committee” (JPC).  It is still the responsibility of the JPC to plan to meet the development targets for their area, despite the change to a Central Bedfordshire local authority.

 

Supported by a team of professional planners called the “Joint Technical Unit” (JTU) the JPC determined that it would be unable to meet their targets for new housing - particularly family housing, rather than flats - if development was solely within the existing combined Luton, Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Linslade town conurbations.  Since the  overall conurbation is largely constrained within a Green Belt cordon, there were initially some 13 possible expansion areas seen to be the “preferred options” for expansion.

 

A further area, Green Belt land in North Hertfordshire to the east of Luton, was originally included as a “RESERVE” site.  North Hertfordshire District Council and Hertfordshire County Council have resolutely opposed any incursion into this, their area, arguing amongst other reasons that Hertfordshire itself has its own planning obligations and that the JPC should be meeting their own obligations within their own geographical boundaries.

 

For reasons that are far from clear, east of Luton became not a reserve but a preferred expansion area.  KEOLG was originally formed to fight this monstrous intrusion into Green Belt countryside, a land area of huge beauty and value.

 

KEOLG - with help & support from others like the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and with vigorous opposition to the intrusion into their Green Belt by North Hertfordshire District Council - succeeded in having east of Luton removed from the Core Strategy insofaras it concerned building of houses.  To the east of Luton there remains only an expansion possibility to the industrial area near Luton Airport (known as Century Park), with serious questions about access to the site and still with objections from North Herts District Council since this industrial site expansion similarly involves an expansion into the Hertfordshire Green Belt.

 

The final version of the Core Strategy was submitted in late 2010 to the planning authorities of central Government, where it is legally required to be considered by a Government planning Inspector.  This planning Inspector is required to ensure that the Core Strategy is “sound”.