Representation by Lorna Swain
- Date submitted
- 21 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
My primary concern is the destruction of Wigmore Valley Park, as this will result in the loss of yet another community open space in the Stopsley/Wigmore area, when we already have a shortage of open green space. And additionally, not only is the ‘replacement park’ going to be outside of Luton, but there is also no plan to replace the County Wildlife site. The lack of open space will directly impact the residents who currently regularly use the Park (and 100s’ do) but will also have the obvious impact on the fauna and flora in the area once the space is concreted over. I am concerned how expansion will result in increases in noise and pollution, both from the extra traffic but also due to increases in the number of planes. Already I am noticing this summer increases in the level in plane noise, as many mornings now there is just a constant, rumble of plane noise from 6am. Local roads in Luton are already notorious for their levels of congestion and so yet more cars will clearly result in more traffic and more congestion, thus impacting on locals’ quality of life, affecting our ability to easily travel and move around the town. I profoundly object to all the council tax money that Luton Council has thrown at this project, to the detriment of local services and the maintenance of the local environment. I understand the councils plans to mitigate the impact of all the additional traffic is by changes to local roads and by installing more traffic lights and traffic schemes into the area. I am concerned that the changes that I have seen will have a negative impact on journey times, primarily because a suitable infrastructure doesn’t really exist and a solution to cope with the extra traffic is simply being ‘bodged’ together using residential roads. I am concerned of how the increases in car parking from visitors to the airport, who choose not to use the carparks, but to park in local streets will massively increase to the inconvenience of those who houses they park in front of, or by the wider use of Residents Parking Schemes, again having a direct impact on us locals.