Victory for Central Beds' M1-A6 link road scheme as Luton accepts High Court verdict

Following the High Court's judgment last week, the authority confirmed today it would not be appealing the ruling.

The project was ratified by Central Beds Council in January, and it will connect junction 11a of the motorway to the A6 Barton Road north of Luton.

Legal proceedings against the plans were agreed by Luton’s executive committee at a meeting held in private in February.

A Luton Borough Council spokesman said: “We were disappointed to receive the news that our application for a Judicial Review against CBC’s decision to grant permission for the M1-A6 link road had been refused.

"Prior to seeking a JR, we had made four objections to the planning application and spoken at the planning committee meetings.

"We also wrote to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government requesting that they call-in the M1-A6 planning application for his determination, however the Secretary of State declined to call in the application.

“We do not intend to challenge the decision.”

The High Court's verdict last week coincided with the local authority admitting it faces an emergency summer budget over a £50m black hole in its finances. With passenger numbers decimated, the council’s airport company, London Luton Airport Limited (LLAL), is no longer receiving air traveller income.

Councillors will be forced to agree to “extremely difficult cuts” to key services unless a desperate plea to the government for £50m emergency revenue funding is successful.

The new two-and-a-three-quarter mile single and dual carriageway road was approved by Central Bedfordshire councillors in September.

The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, declined to call-in the application, and it was ratified by CBC on January 10.