EIGHT “luxury camping pods” are being planned at Whipsnade Zoo as charity chiefs aim to make it a year-round attraction.

The Lookout Lodge pods are set to open up a new market for the 80 year-old hilltop attraction.

“Everything we do has mission overlay,” said Zoological Society of London (ZSL) director David Field. He explained that the zoo wants to give visitors experiences that turn them into champions of Whipsnade and to reconnect people with nature.

Mr Field became a champion of nature at a very young age and wants other people to have experiences that do the same for them.

ZSL aims to put 10 per cent of its turnover into conservation efforts around the world. In a good year that can add up to £10million.

Also on the cards this year are a sophisticated indoor play area and refurbishment of the sealion enclosure as the zoo aims to give visitors more of what they want from a day out in the Chilterns.

Last year, some 500,000 people went through the zoo’s gates, with more than ever during the warmer than average winter months.

“We want to encourage people to visit the zoo throughout the year, not just during bank holidays in August,” said Mr Field. He added that by encouraging people to make repeat visits, its conservation efforts can continue into the long term.

> See our video interview with David Field at www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/business

A NEW strategy to increase the number of passengers and staff travelling to Luton Airport by public transport has been announced.

The airport says it wants more than 40 per cent of people travelling to and from the airport to do so via public transport by 2017.

And it wants the proportion of staff travelling alone by car to and from the airport to be 60 per cent or lower by 2017.

Currently, 71 per cent of non-shift workers drive alone.

]]> 1.3541297 Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:01:21 +0000 http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/road_block_for_m1_gantry_work_1_3541205

POLICE will put a rolling road block in place while the Highways Agency installs new gantries on the M1 on Friday night (February 24)

Traffic will be reduced to one lane in both directions between junctions 10 and 12 from 10pm, with the road block slowing down traffic and bringing it to a halt for 20 minutes while each gantry is lifted and bolted into place.

The road block will take place between midnight and 3am, when traffic flows are at their lowest, the agency says.

For updates visit www.highways.gov.uk

SQUATTING. It’s a word that creates fear and loathing among residential landlords.

Squatters move into empty properties and take over occupation without obtaining the permission of the owner, their agent or the person legally entitled to live there.

But the law on squatting could be about to change.

Towards the end of 2011 the government took action to make squatting a criminal offence by incorporating a new clause into the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2011.

The Bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords toward the Royal Assent needed to turn it into law.

It will, if passed, make anyone who enters a residential building as a trespasser and is living in the building, guilty of a criminal offence.

Adrian Mason, of agent Belvoir Luton, in Marsh Road, said: “It’s a very significant move and a welcome result for our industry.

“Squatting can have a devastating effect on a landlord’s business and it can be very difficult, time-consuming and expensive for them to remove squatters from their properties. Regaining possession can be a long and drawn out process and it creates real problems when trying to re-let a property to a potential new tenant.”

“While it is not necessarily widespread in our region, squatting has been a growing problem nationally and an issue we have taken a great deal of interest in, to help protect our landlord clients.”

Belvoir say it is almost impossible for landlords to successfully claim for damages, since the perpetrators more often than not have limited financial means.

In Scotland, squatting has been a criminal offence for over 150 years and anyone found guilty can be sentenced to up to 21 days in jail. But in England and Wales, owners have had to use civil courts to enforce their rights.

A 2010 UK Bailiff Company report found a 40 per cent rise in squatting eviction cases and a 132 per cent rise in squatting over a 15 year period.

Belvoir Luton, along with more than 140 other Belvoir offices throughout the UK, has backed a long-running campaign to change the law in England and Wales.

The campaign was spearheaded by the UK’s largest industry bodies, the National Landlords Association and the Residential Landlords Association.

Mr Mason added: “We welcome the government’s decision to criminalise squatting.

“We will continue to support the industry bodies – who are pushing for further clarification on issues surrounding immediate re-possession of property, so our clients can build their property portfolios without hindrance from unwanted trespassers.”