Luton 2040: A new town-wide vision for Luton

Since 2016 the council, together with its partners and investors, has been successful in securing more than £1.3 billion of investment in the town with a further £3.2 billion scheduled through the Luton Investment Framework.

Following consultation with stakeholders, a short-term vision has been developed to address the immediate challenges COVID-19 has had on Luton’s economy and the health of its residents.

The short-term vision lays the foundations of the town’s longer term ambitions of Luton 2040 – a healthy, fair and sustainable town, where everyone can thrive and no-one has to live in poverty. It sets out the priorities for the first five years.  The next two to three years will focus on:

• securing a strong economic recovery
• protecting the most disadvantaged residents from the worst impacts of the pandemic
• delivering a more inclusive economy
• a better quality of life for residents

The short term vision strategic priorities 2020–2025 are:

• securing a strong economic recovery from COVID-19, which protects jobs, incomes and businesses and enables us to build a more inclusive economy
• protecting the most disadvantaged in our town by prioritising services and interventions that focus on prevention, alleviate the impact of poverty and reduce health inequalities
• making Luton a child-friendly town, where our children and young people grow up feeling happy, healthy and secure, with a voice that matters and the opportunities they need to thrive
• becoming a greener and more sustainable town, to meet our long-term ambition to be carbon neutral and climate resilient by 2040
• a strong and empowered community supporting fairness, equality and local pride and speaking with a powerful voice

The Vision is being delivered through two strategic partnership boards:

• the Inclusive Economy Board delivering the Economic Recovery Plan and Inclusive Economy Strategy
• the Health and Wellbeing Board delivering the Health Inequalities Action Plan and the Population and Wellbeing Strategy

The longer term ambitions build on the work of the Inclusive Growth Commission and their recommendations to make Luton a more inclusive place where everyone can share in the benefits of economic growth and enjoy a good quality of life.