Luton Borough Council

Luton 2040

Our vision for Luton in 2040 is a bold and ambitious one - a healthy, fair, and sustainable town where everyone can thrive, and no one has to live in poverty.

Together, as key system leaders and anchor institutions, we have developed this vision with residents and partners across Luton, based on their aspirations for the future of the town and the 225,300 people that live here.

The vision is built around five priorities, each of which contributes to achieving our overall vision for the town.

Building an inclusive economy that delivers investment to support the growth of businesses, jobs and incomes.
Improving population wellbeing and tackling health inequalities to enable everyone to have a good quality of life and reach their full potential.
Becoming a child friendly town, where our children grow up happy, healthy and secure, with a voice that matters and the opportunities they need to thrive.
Tackling the climate emergency and becoming a net zero town with sustainable growth and a healthier environment.
Supporting a strong and empowered community, built on fairness, local pride and a powerful voice for all our residents.

We know that poverty and inequality cuts across outcomes and life chances of our residents in education, health and employment, which is why creating a town free of poverty is at the heart of our vision. However, our vision is not purely focused on economic growth, but also about creating a community that is:

vibrant
sustainable
inclusive

Our vision highlights the importance of environmental sustainability, social cohesion, becoming a child friendly town, and our population wellbeing strategy.

Since launching this vision in 2020, we have worked together to deliver a strong recovery in terms of wellbeing and our economy. Partners across Luton have also been transforming the town with a series of major projects and initiatives. New developments continue across our town including:

the opening of the new Barnfield College in 2022
improved facilities in Lewsey Sports Centre in 2021

Other achievements include:

the town being listed as the top UK destination for start-ups
the best all-round UK location for aspirational entrepreneurs
the University of Bedfordshire achieving a first class award for sustainability
Luton hosting its first Pride Festival

We expect to see many more exciting developments over the next five years that will have a positive impact on our town and the lives of residents. This will include the completion of major developments such as:

Power Court Football Stadium
The Stage
the delivery of more than 2,000 new homes for residents
the opening of new family hubs
community hubs
a new children with disabilities resource centre
introduction of more infrastructure to help us get to net zero

In the longer term, the journey we take in pursuit of 2040 could take many different paths as we meet opportunities and challenges on the way. We therefore know that the success of us reaching our 2040 vision requires the resources and skills of everyone as we journey together towards 2040.

A lot of work is being progressed by our partners, you will find highlights and successes of what has been achieved to date in our Luton 2040 reviews which can be viewed in the downloads section below.