Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

I object to the plan building to the East of Luton because:

1. Luton's unmet needs are not an exceptional circumstance according to the Governments criteria and do not warrant removing green belt protection from the lands in question

2. Once unprotected we can be sure there will be a flood of applications to cover every part of it. this would seriously damage the greenbelt in this area as you would effectively be giving the go-ahead for it all to be built on.

3. There are plenty of brown field sites in Luton that would be more than sufficient to meet the housing needs in question and much more.
Indeed many of the brown sites in Luton town are in dire need of housing development to enhance the town and bring it closer to a cohesive, mixed community it once was. Building outside of the town will worsen its already serious fragmentation into clusters of disconnected residencies.
Luton town is in desperate need of rejuvenation, particularly new housing where people don't need personal transport to take advantage of the train stations and town amenities. Allowing development outside of the town will make town development less attractive to developers.

4. Part of the justification appears to be supported by plans for an as yet unapproved, un-built and unfunded road. So it doesn't exist and may well never exist. Traffic in the East Luton area is already regularly heavily congested at many parts of the day and is a main thoroughfare for access to the M1. Additional traffic would cause gridlock. We already recognise that Britain's productivity is negatively impacted by heavy traffic. This development will make it worse. You will be pumping cars into an area where traffic is expected to be already negatively impacted and getting worse, for instance by the intended growth of Luton airport.

5. The number of homes planned to be built, 2100, 14% of the total in the plan, is extremely disproportionate. You will be creating a vast estate that will completely swamp the existing communities. Building 2000+ homes around an existing community of about 200 is unreasonable.