Luton Has Been Named As One Of The Country's Most Deprived Towns

New report draws attention to signs of urban deprivation in Luton community.

News story that a recent report claims that Luton suffers from the same kind of social problems as much larger towns and cities in spite of its position in the prosperous south east of England. Anglia TV reporter Peter Lugg summarises the opinions in the report. Housing is densely developed and over-crowded and the town has a large ethic-minority population and a high number of single parent families. Views of streets of terraced houses and window displays of estate agents’ shops. The report states that house prices are relatively low given that Luton is within the London commuter belt, but the demand for additional housing is driving the need to build on green belt land in South Bedfordshire. The Bedfordshire Structure Plan is criticised for not acknowledging the problems. More views of partly demolished and older housing. Luton is one of eleven towns visited by the Inner City Commission on Housing. Their chairman Wyndham Thomas speaks with Anglia TV reporter Chris Young. He says that Luton needs to build an additional 700 – 800 houses a year indefinitely to house the current population and its natural increase, and land is not available for more than 2-4 years of development. He says that although the report was commissioned by the House Builders’ Federation, it was not a sales pitch but a genuinely independent commission. The reporters were Peter Lugg and Chris Young for this video made to be shown in a news story on Anglia Television early evening news / magazine programme About Anglia.

Keywords

Housing; Urban deprivation; Multi-ethnic communities; Town planning

Additional Description

Wyndham Thomas https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/14/wyndham-thomas-obituary