News

In a surprise announcement this week, Luton Labour Councillors dropped their long standing support for the development of 5,500 homes on green belt land to the East of Luton.

I welcome the sudden U-turn by Luton Labour councillors, and their decision to vote against their own party policy and join the Conservatives and Lib Dems in fighting the unwanted development to the East of Luton.

But far from a sincere and consistent policy shift, this move smells of pure political expediency brought on, no doubt, by the weight of local public opinion and a reluctant acceptance that a change of government is likely in six months bringing new policies that would result in the scrapping of the plans anyway.

David Cameron has already committed to abolishing the regional planning system created by John Prescott and to return power from Whitehall to Town Halls on house-building matters.  Furthermore, Shadow Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman, has written to Councils outlining the Conservative's policy on housing and advising them "not to run ahead with implementing controversial elements of regional spatial strategies, expending time and taxpayers' money that may be wasted" and to "say 'no' when the Government attempts to force the council to act at a speed which is not a binding legal necessity."

I believe that these factors, taken in context of the proximity to a general election, make the current deliberations of the joint committee completely irrelevant. The thousands of local residents who have campaigned for more local control and decision making over housing matters have won a battle this week, but we need a change of Government at the general election before we can celebrate winning the war.

It was interesting to note this week the somewhat disingenuous press releases from the other political parties and the (supposedly apolitical) SAD campaign group on this matter appear who omitted a few rather important facts such as: 
1) that all the Luton Conservative Councillors also voted against the development to the East - continuing a stance they have taken for some time;
2) that it is local Conservatives (from Luton and Herts) who have been leading the campaign against the East of Luton plans for the last two years (as the accompanying pictures clearly show); and
3) that it is the Conservative party - and only the Conservative party - who actually have a national policy commitment to scrap John Prescott's centrally imposed housing policy and put planning powers back in the hands of local communities and councils.