Luton can show 4.64 years of housing land against a five-year requirement, a shortfall of 414 homes. The new Local Plan timetable and the big sites.
Luton Borough Council cannot currently demonstrate the five years of housing land the government requires. Its own Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement, prepared in March 2026, puts the borough’s position at 4.64 years, a shortfall of 414 homes against a requirement of 5,751.
That single number sits underneath almost every planning argument in the town right now, and it lands in the same year the council started work on a new Local Plan that will not be adopted until December 2028.
The housing numbers
The adopted Luton Local Plan 2011 to 2031 was adopted in 2017, which makes it more than five years old. The council’s statement is explicit about what follows: “because it is more than five years since the Local Plan was adopted the housing land supply should be demonstrated against the local housing need for Luton.”
That local housing need is set by the government’s standard method, and for Luton it is 1,095 dwellings a year. Add the 5% buffer the framework requires and the council is working to an annual housing requirement of 1,150.2 dwellings.
| Measure | Dwellings |
|---|---|
| Annual local housing need, standard method | 1,095 |
| Five year local housing need | 5,477 |
| 5% buffer | 274 |
| Five year requirement | 5,751 |
| Total supply of deliverable sites | 5,337 |
| Shortfall | -414 |
| Years of supply | 4.64 years |
Only a 5% buffer applies rather than 20%, because Luton passed the Housing Delivery Test comfortably: its 2023 measurement was 499%, so no sanctions apply and no additional buffer is required.
Across the whole borough, land was available for 7,231 dwellings on 182 sites at 1 April 2025. Most of that has permission, but not all of it counts toward the five years: 5,124 dwellings have full or reserved matters consent, 1,408 have outline consent, and 699 are allocated in the adopted Local Plan with no permission at all.
The new Local Plan
The council reviewed the timetable on 28 July 2026 and reported that “no changes have been identified and the published timetable remains unchanged”. The first stage has already been and gone: the scoping consultation opened on 28 May 2026 and the accompanying call for sites closed on 23 July 2026.
The next chance for residents to comment is the proposed plan consultation on 13 May 2027, followed by formal consultation from 18 November 2027. The plan is due to be submitted to the Secretary of State on 15 June 2028, examined between June and October 2028, and adopted on 22 December 2028.
That is a long runway, and it means the 2011 to 2031 plan and the standard method housing need figure will govern decisions in Luton for another two and a half years.
The four biggest sites
The council assessed every site of more than 400 dwellings individually. Four qualify, and between them they explain where Luton’s new homes are actually coming from.
| Site | Homes | Status | Expected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Napier Park (Lu2on) | 592 remaining of 993 | Under construction | By 31 March 2030 |
| 4 to 11 Burr Street | 406, application to raise to 414 | Site cleared, conditions being discharged | 121 by March 2028, 285 by March 2030 |
| Land opposite Whitbread House, Flowers Way | 414, raised from 402 | Under construction | All by 2027/28 |
| Power Court | 1,195 | Outline, developable not deliverable | Homes start 2028/29, completions after April 2030 |
Power Court is the one most people in Luton are watching, and the council’s own assessment is clear about the sequence: the site “includes a new football stadium which will be built in Phase 1 with residential development in Phase 2”, with the housing “estimated to start in 2028/29” and no completions inside the current five-year period. Its 1,195 homes are counted as developable, not deliverable, which is precisely why they do not help close the 414-home gap.
One more site is worth noting because it shows what a Local Plan allocation is actually worth in Luton: 13 to 31 Dunstable Road and Trent House was allocated for 124 dwellings and was granted permission for 291 dwellings on 11 December 2025 under reference 24/00847/FUL, more than double the allocation.
The airport, and the end of the legal road
The other planning story in Luton is finished rather than pending. The London Luton Airport Expansion Development Consent Order was granted by the Secretary of State for Transport on 3 April 2025, allowing the airport to grow to 32 million passengers a year. Luton Rising, the council-owned company that owns the airport, puts the benefits at up to 11,000 jobs, up to £1.5bn a year in additional economic activity and up to £13m a year for local communities, with a Green Controlled Growth framework capping noise, emissions, air quality and surface access impacts.
The campaign group LADACAN challenged the decision. The judicial review was dismissed in December 2025, the Court of Appeal refused permission to appeal on 21 May 2026, and in August 2026 the Supreme Court refused permission, finding that the application did not raise an arguable point of law. The case ended on procedural grounds rather than on the climate arguments LADACAN raised, so the underlying legal question is still open nationally, but the Luton consent now stands unchallenged.
The knock-on for the roads is already in the council’s plans: its draft Local Transport Plan names increasing capacity at M1 junction 10 as a longer-term priority to support airport growth. That, and the current works, are covered in Luton roadworks and travel.
What is on the register this week
Big schemes are the exception. In the week beginning 10 August 2026, Luton’s planning register validated six applications, and every one was small:
- Erection of an additional first floor extension, 1 Chartwell Drive, LU2 7JD (26/00849/FULHH)
- Single-storey side extension to form a garage and utility room, 172 Gardenia Avenue, LU3 2NT (26/00840/FULHH)
- Discharge of sound insulation and anti-vibration conditions for a hair salon becoming a laundrette, 11 New Bedford Road, LU1 1SA (26/00842/DOC)
- Erection of an outbuilding, 537 Dunstable Road, LU4 8QW (26/00797/FULHH)
- Single-storey rear and front extensions, 20 Trefoil Close, LU4 0RB (26/00690/FULHH)
- Demolition and rebuild of a single-storey rear extension, Unit M, Cradock Road (26/00644/FUL)
Six applications a week is a thin list for a town of 225,000 people, so quiet weeks on the register are normal here. You can search any of them, and comment on live applications, on the council’s planning portal.
Frequently asked questions
Does Luton have a five year housing land supply?
No. The council’s own statement, prepared in March 2026, puts Luton at 4.64 years, a shortfall of 414 homes against a five-year requirement of 5,751.
What is Luton’s housing target?
The standard method sets Luton’s local housing need at 1,095 dwellings a year. With the 5% buffer applied, the council works to an annual housing requirement of 1,150.2 dwellings.
When will Luton have a new Local Plan?
22 December 2028 on the council’s published timetable, which it reviewed and confirmed unchanged on 28 July 2026. Until then the adopted Luton Local Plan 2011 to 2031 applies.
When can I comment on the new Local Plan?
The scoping consultation ran from 28 May 2026 and the call for sites closed on 23 July 2026. The next opportunities are the proposed plan consultation on 13 May 2027 and formal consultation from 18 November 2027.
When will homes be built at Power Court?
Not soon. The council expects residential development to start in 2028/29, after the stadium, with the first completions after April 2030. The 1,195 homes there are classed as developable rather than deliverable.
Is the Luton Airport expansion definitely going ahead?
The Development Consent Order was granted on 3 April 2025 and every legal challenge has now failed, the last when the Supreme Court refused permission to appeal in August 2026. The consent allows growth to 32 million passengers a year.
Sources
- Luton Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement 2025, Luton Borough Council, prepared March 2026, for the 4.64-year position, housing need, buffer, total supply and every large-site figure.
- Luton’s new Local Plan, Luton Borough Council, for the plan-making timetable and its 28 July 2026 review.
- Luton Local Plan, Luton Borough Council, for the adopted 2011 to 2031 plan.
- The DCO application to grow our airport has been approved, Luton Rising, for the 3 April 2025 consent and the jobs, economic and community benefit figures. The order itself is The London Luton Airport Expansion Development Consent Order 2025.
- Supreme Court refuses to hear application for extension of time to appeal in Luton Airport expansion case, Local Government Lawyer, August 2026, for the court outcomes.
- Luton Borough Council planning register for the applications validated in the week beginning 10 August 2026.
Planning positions change. Figures here were checked on 13 August 2026 against the council’s published documents; confirm the current position before relying on any of it.
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