Luton & South Beds. Joint Planning Committee (JPC)

 

OPTION 3: Reconsider all the original 12/13 possible alternative sites

 

This is clearly the most radical alternative.  It would add enormous additional cost and a lot more time.  There is a chance that if the JPC were to take this option then with a General Election in May of next year and a possible Conservative Government in Whitehall, the whole Core Strategy could be thrown into total disarray.

 

At KEOLG we think that this might mean that Luton loses out on a chance for a major revitalisation programme, making this a dangerous tactic for the Luton members of the JPC.  Luton Liberal Democrats do not share this view and are intent on having the JPC take this option.

 

To understand a little more, you need to know something of the background ….

 

The East of Luton site was a "key reserve site" only at the draft Milton Keynes & South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy stage, i.e. around 2003-2004.  When that went to public examination in 2004, the Panel of Inspectors did not confirm the "reserve" status.  Instead they identified the "areas of search," which then appear in the published final document of 2005.  Thus the concept of a "reserve site" was abandoned at that time.

 

There was a public consultation carried out by the JPC in 2007, when there were some 13 sites included in what was then called the “Issues and Options”.  The areas were given identification letters A > M:

 

Growth at Leighton Linslade

A          Slightly NW of  Linslade (small area)

B          S of  Linslade (small area)

C          NNE of Leighton Buzzard

D          E of Leighton Buzzard

 

Land to the West and north of Dunstable & Houghton Regis

E          NNW of Dunstable (small area)

F          NNW of Houghton Regis

G          N of Houghton Regis

H          N of Houghton Regis (further north than G above)

 

North of Luton

I , J & K

 

East of Luton

L          around Mangrove, Cockernhoe & Lilley

 

West of Luton

M          around Caddington & Slip End

 

You can see the full issues and options document here:

 

http://www.shapeyourfuture.org.uk/documents/Issue1GrowthOptions.pdf

 

It was then that things moved forward until June 2008 when the JPC approved what became their “draft preferred options”, specifically including the east of Luton as a “preferred option” for urban expansion.