The consultation will take place in three stages, designed to make it as easy as possible for local people to participate.
There is also a telephone hotline and this website where people can ask questions or submit feedback throughout the course of the consultation.
The first stage of the east of Luton consultation consisted of exhibitions to gather information and views from local people. The exhibitions set out the background to the area under examination, and some of the key elements in thinking about sustainable development on the site. The exhibitions took place in a variety of locations around the local area.
Over nine hundred people attended the consultation exhibitions in January, with a further 100 people attending a subsequent event in March. Attendees at the events were asked to sign a voluntary attendance book. Members of the development team also kept a manual head-count of attendees.
Following these events, 153 feedback forms have been received, along with 282 emails and letters as of the first of May 2008. In addition, there have been more that 1200 hits on the consultation website. Feedback will continue to be welcomed throughout the entire course of the consultation.
The majority of respondents chose to provide details of the area in which they lived. Respondents came from a comprehensive geographical sample covering the Stopsley and Wigmore areas of Luton and the villages of North Hertfordshire in generally equal proportions. There were also respondents from neighbouring towns in Hertfordshire and other parts of Luton.
It should be noted at this early stage of the consultation, the feedback received has mainly been on broad themes and the principle of development to the east of Luton. Feedback forms have generally commented on a number of issues, whereas emails were more likely to comment on specific issues.
Overall, though, it is possible to discern broad themes of concern or aspiration across the feedback received following the first round of exhibitions. These themes were used as the basis for discussion in consultation workshops held in April. Feedback from those workshops is being analysed at present and a summary will be uploaded to this website when available.
Traffic congestion emerged as a central concern for residents, in general and in relation to particular areas. A considerable number of respondents raised concerns that access to the proposed site via Luton could exacerbate existing congestion and pollution problems, and there were also points raised regarding the implications for the A505. Some residents suggested that these issues could be alleviated by a bypass from the A505 to the M1, running to the east of Luton, although others commented on possible transport implications a bypass might have for rural routes to the north and east of the area of search.
Few people commented on public transport, but those that did saw it as inadequate. A large number of people also travel around the area on foot and the idea of improved cycle and footpaths was raised.
The feedback suggests that local people identify strongly with their own local community - many people, for instance, saw themselves as residents of Stopsley or Wigmore, rather than Luton, whilst residents of villages such as Lilley or Cockernhoe underlined their residency within Hertfordshire. There was a high level of knowledge of the administrative boundary between North Hertfordshire and Luton.
Feedback on the existing local facilities was low. Education facilities were the most commonly commented upon. There were a number of queries around which local authority would provide educational services; also whether secondary provision in the area was sufficient. There were also comments about how Education and other services such as Fire and Policing would be provided, given the location of the county boundary.
Many people remarked on their use of the area to the east of Luton for leisure and recreational purposes. Whilst there was a strong sense that there were a number of well-used playing fields and other sporting facilities in the area, independent use of existing footpaths across the area was commonly indicated. There was however a concern over the lack of facilities for young people in town, which manifested itself in concerns about anti-social behaviour. This is perceived to be a problem and residents often commented on a worry that future development could exacerbate this.
Putteridge Bury Estate was frequently mentioned. Comments were generally around the need to maintain the parkland and wildlife in the area. Respondents generally regarded the site as accessible at present; albeit that it was privately-owned land and there was a clear sense that the estate was seen as a defined whole, rather than just an area of parkland. There were differing opinions expressed on whether the area should be made more accessible to the public; some people thought the area could be a valuable resource for residents, but others were concerned that doing so could put elements of the parkland at risk.
Views on Affordable Housing were varied. Whilst some respondents accepted that there was a need for affordable housing in the area, there were also concerns raised about where and how it might be delivered as part of a sustainable community.
The flora and fauna of the area to the east of Luton were commonly commented on. Key species which people registered as important were deer, bats, owls, bluebells, and the red kite, along with several others. Brick-Kiln wood was mentioned in particular with regard to the latter two.
The perceived loss of open farmland was clearly an issue of considerable concern to the majority of people who responded.
As well as concern that development would remove access and views of open fields, a key issue was the green belt. There was widespread concern at loss of green belt in the area.
A large number of people registered concern that the area would cease to be green belt, both in terms of specific areas of concern about, and also as a general principle that green belt land could be altered: there were many questions as to the policies which might lead to this. Some people also noted that development would replace agricultural land.
The border between Luton and North Herts was strongly expressed in a great number of responses. A number of respondents raised concerns about the possible encroachment of Luton into and around established villages, and also possible coalescence with neighbouring towns. There were also concerns that the area to the east of Luton was being allocated to preserve open space in other areas of Hertfordshire. Many people asked about Brownfield sites within Luton which they believed should be utilised in preference to the area to the east of Luton.
However, feedback received clearly indicated that the emerging proposal for the area to the east of Luton had come as a surprise to residents - there was a low level of awareness of the regional planning context in the area, on both sides of the border. This was in terms of the adopted policy on housing targets as well as ongoing work on the Luton and South Bedfordshire Core Strategy, which includes the area to the east of Luton as one possible site for development. People told us that they did not know why the area might be needed to provide housing alongside other areas.
Anyone who was not able to attend the events can still submit information and views through this website, by email, or by calling our dedicated telephone number 0845 602 2807.
In additions, a detailed feedback form was available for this stage of exhibitions, which you can download, fill out and send to us. All feedback received will be reported to Bloor Homes to inform its emerging proposal, and will also form part of the Statement of Community Involvement which would be submitted as part of any planning application.
The consultation team are also happy to speak to local groups and organisations to gather input on particular issues or areas. If you belong to an organisation or group which would like to be involved in the consultation, you can contact us here.
The information gathered at the exhibitions was put together with ongoing technical and professional studies of the area to create more detailed plans. A series of workshops were held, so that people and organisations who registered their interest in the consultation had the opportunity to examine the current thinking in more depth.
More than a hundred people took part in consultation workshops held in April 2008, discussing topics such as transport, ecology, and sustainability and issues of particular relevance to the residents of nearby villages.
At the first series of consultation exhibitions (held in January and March), materials and panels displayed an 'Area of Search' setting out a site within which a potential development might take place. This area was displayed as it was necessary for the eventual proposal to fully take into account key elements of the wider area, such as the Putteridge Bury Estate and Lilley Bottom Valley, which play a major role in defining the possibilities for development in the area.
All the workshops included a presentation setting out how the proposals for the area have begun to take shape, in light of feedback received from the initial consultation activities and ongoing technical and professional surveys of the area. This process has enabled Bloor Homes' project team has to focus in on a specific and much smaller area for potential development.
The presentation and explanatory notes, including the latest possible development boundary, can be found in this document.
It is with regret that Bloor Homes have decided to cancel a series of public consultation events which had been scheduled for the 17, 18 and 19th of July.
The reason for the cancellation is that wider decisions regarding the strategic growth around Luton have recently been taken by the Luton and South Bedfordshire Joint Committee, at a committee on 30 June 2008. These decisions will undoubtedly affect proposals for development east of Luton.
As a result of the outcome of this meeting, Bloor Homes wishes to consider the information in detail and the company does not consider it to be the right time to be undertaking public exhibitions on its emerging Masterplan proposals as originally envisaged, as development proposals presented at these events may be subject to change.
A letter has been sent to those living in the Stopsley and Wigmore areas of Luton, as well as the villages of Cockernhoe, Mangrove Green, Tea Green, Lilley and Offley, to inform them of the cancellation and apologise for any inconvenience.
Bloor Homes will write to the local community again when it is in a position to decide how to proceed.
Here you can download documents relating to the consultation. More information will be added as the consultation progresses.
All documents are uploaded as PDFs. If you have trouble opening them, please click here.
We want to hear your ideas and views on the area east of Luton. Click here to find out how you can contribute.
