Luton Council’s flagship £136 million town centre regeneration scheme, The Stage, has been hit by delays which are costing £100,000 a per month amid a lack of response from the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), it has emerged.
The hold-up was confirmed during a recent scrutiny finance review group meeting that the BSR has requested a third extension of time to assess the plans for three residential towers within the project. The application was originally submitted in July 2024 and had been expected to be decided by November.
No work without regulatory sign-off
“The latest position is a request from the regulator for a third extension of time until July 11,” Roger Kirk, the council’s director of property and infrastructure told councillors.
“The regulatory organisation has been unresponsive, despite lobbying at ministerial and senior civil servant level.”
The delay means that no construction work can begin on the towers until the fire safety aspects have been approved. Mr Kirk said that, under current regulations, “until you have clearance, you can’t start anything.”
A recent meeting with the BSR led to further information being requested from the council’s design team, but Mr Kirk said he was “fairly confident” that a positive determination would be made this summer.
Contingency in place
While the delay is affecting the programme and budget, Mr Kirk told councillors that the council had built in sufficient financial contingency, though the project is currently using about £100,000 per month from these funds to manage the setback and pay contractors.
“At this moment in time there is no danger of having to cancel any other projects to fund this one,” he said of The Stage.
“One of the upsides perhaps of the delay is that residential sale prices continue to rise and we have a robust cost plan, which means that the negative impact will hopefully not be material.”
He estimated the overall financial hit to the capital programme caused by the delay to be under £1 million and confirmed “there is no need for further subsidy from the council.”
What is The Stage?
The Stage is a key element of Luton Council’s long-term town centre regeneration strategy. The development, on the site of the former Bute Street car park near Luton Station, includes:
- Three residential towers with nearly 300 homes
- A multi-purpose community performance hub
- Commercial and retail units
- A food court and cycle hub
- Public realm improvements including green space and better pedestrian links
The project is backed by £20million from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund and is intended to create around 650 jobs. It is seen as a gateway to reconnect key areas of the town, including Church Street and the station, and improve access to the River Lea.
Part of a wider vision
The Stage is one of several projects forming part of Luton’s £1.7 billion town centre masterplan, which includes the construction of Luton Town Football Club’s new Power Court stadium, where the first spades in the ground expected this summer, plus enhanced public spaces such as Hat Gardens.
Luton Council views the regeneration as central to its 2040 vision of building a “healthy, fair and sustainable town where everyone can thrive.”
The council is now awaiting the regulator’s response by July 11, which will determine how soon construction work on the key residential elements of The Stage can begin.
Councillor expresses frustration over government inaction
At the meeting, committee chair Councillor David Franks expressed disappointment at the lack of support from senior council leadership and external agencies in addressing the regulatory delays.
“At the last update, we agreed to write a letter to the chief executive and the leader of the council asking them to seek assistance from the three Luton parliamentarians and from the Local Government Association, to put pressure on the government to do something about these horrendous delays, which are obviously affecting other local authorities as well,” he said.
“I have to say I have not received either an acknowledgement nor a reply to that request and I depreciate that position. I would have thought that at least an acknowledgement would have been received, if not a detailed explanation of what they were doing about it — but there you go.”
In response, Mr Kirk said: “Chair, I’m happy to share the replies that both our MP and our former chief exec received from the minister of state and from the senior civil servant. Basically, they said, ‘We’re very busy, we’re very sorry.’”
Cllr Franks replied: “Yeah, ‘we’re very sorry’ doesn’t actually pay the bills, does it?”
