Luton Council told to 'avoid splitting the town centre in two' with multi-million pound development plans

Connectivity between projects such as The Stage and Luton Town Football Club’s Power Court stadium, and Luton Point and its surrounds could be lost without careful planning, the borough council’s night-time economy task and finish group was warned.

Labour Central councillor Fatima Begum asked: “When The Stage and Power Court are up and running, have we thought about the town centre (shifting) as people will want to go that side?”

LBC’s interim head of culture and creativity Corey Albone replied: “That comes back to the difficulty of travelling around the town centre.

“We want to make sure that doesn’t separate the town centre into two parts. That’s a really important point and one which we need to pick up with Luton Point around that accessibility.

“It’s also thinking about those routes round from the Hat District to George Street. If it’s not possible to go through Luton Point, how do we improve the safety and lighting to make that link round the town centre much easier?”

Liberal Democrat South councillor Steve Stephens, who chairs the group, said: “There are perceptions about lighting.

“Visitors to the Luton Library Theatre were talking about George Square and it not being lit up at night. It looks dangerous, even if it isn’t. People were hanging around an alcove smoking drugs and drinking alcohol.

“There used to be a tub of flowers there, which stopped that kind of gathering from taking place. Improvements to the general lighting across George Street should be possible. That’s a key area.

“I don’t know what funds there are available. I think this group should know what level of funding is accessible. If we want Luton BID to put on more events, it will say: ‘Fine, but what are you and LBC going to do to enable us to do that’.

“That’s the key factor. The financial implications have been put to one side and they shouldn’t be. These need to be up front to know what’s available to help businesses put on more functions at night-time.

“We need to be more active in enforcement. It could be a policing issue, but we need to be showing the public we’re taking action.”

LBC’s head of public protection Tony Ireland referred to the separation of the town centre as developments come into place, saying: “From the licensing perspective, we’re already seeing a shift.

“Some of it’s really positive, such as a reinvigorated interest from business owners in some of the premises in Church Street. It could become a real problem trying to link up George Street going forward.

“The other element which hasn’t been addressed in any of this is designing these developments for the night-time. We can design out crime.

“You talk about perception and trying to resolve that, we’ll end up with the same issues but with new development, in the way they look and feel at night. That’s if we don’t plan for the evening, when these are being built.”