Borough of Luton
—  Town, Borough & Unitary authority  —
Luton Town Hall
Official logo of Borough of Luton Coat of arms of Luton Borough Council
Luton shown within Bedfordshire
Coordinates: 51°54′0″N 0°26′0″W / 51.9°N 0.433333°W / 51.9; -0.433333
Country	United Kingdom
Constituent area	England
Region	East of England
Ceremonial county	Bedfordshire
Borough	Luton
Government[1]
• Type	Borough
• Governing body	Luton Borough Council
• Executive:	Labour
• Mayor	Don Worlding
• MPs	Kelvin Hopkins (L) Gavin Shuker (L)
Area
• Total	16.74 sq mi (43.35 km2)
Population [2]
• Total	205,900
• ethnicity	68.0% White 18.9% S.Asian 7.3% Black 3.1% Mixed Race 2.5% E.Asian and Other
Time zone	GMT
• Summer (DST)	British Summer Time (UTC)
Postcode Area	LU
Area code(s)	(01582)
ONS code	00KA
Demonym	Lutonians
Website	www.luton.gov.uk

Luton (ⁱ/ˈluːtən/ LOOT-ən, local /ˈluːʔən/) is a large town, borough and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles (50 km) north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000.^[3][4]

Luton is home to Blue Square Premier team Luton Town Football Club, whose history includes several spells in the top flight of the English league as well as a Football League Cup triumph in 1988. They play at Kenilworth Road stadium, which has been their home since 1905.

London Luton Airport, opened in 1938, is one of England's major airports. During the Second World War it doubled as an RAF base.

The University of Bedfordshire is based in the town.

The Luton Carnival, held on the late May bank holiday, is the largest one-day carnival in Europe.^[5]

The town was for many years famous for hat-making, and was also home to a large Vauxhall Motors factory; the head office of Vauxhall Motors is still situated in the town. Car production at the plant began in 1905 and continued until 2002, but commercial vehicle production remains.

History[link]

Early history[link]

The earliest settlements in the Luton area were at Round Green and Mixes Hill, where Paleolithic encampments (about 250,000 years old) have been found.^[6] Settlements re-appeared after the ice had retreated in the Mesolithic period around 8000 BC. Traces of these settlements have been found in the Leagrave area of the modern town. Remains from the Neolithic period (4500-2500 BC in this area) are much more common. A particular concentration of Neolithic burials has been found at Galley Hill.^[7] The most prominent Neolithic structure is Waulud's Bank - a henge dating from around 3000 BC. From the Neolithic onwards, the area seems to have been populated, but without any single large settlement.

The first urban settlement nearby was the small Roman town of Durocobrivis at Dunstable, but Roman remains in Luton itself consist only of scattered farmsteads.^[8]

The foundation of Luton is usually dated to the 6th century when a Saxon outpost was founded on the River Lea, Lea tun.^[9] Luton is recorded in the Domesday Book as Loitone and also as Lintone.^[10] Agriculture dominated the local economy at that time, and the town's population was around 700-800.

St Marys Church, Luton town centre

The Wenlock chapel within St Marys

In 1121 Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester started work on St Mary's Church in the centre of the town. The work was completed by 1137.^[11] A motte and bailey type castle which gives its name to the modern Castle Street was built in 1139. The castle was demolished in 1154^[12] and the site is now home to a Matalan store. During the Middle Ages Luton is recorded as being home to six watermills. Mill Street, in the town centre, takes its name from one of them.

King John (1166–1216) had hired a mercenary soldier, Falkes de Breauté, to act on his behalf. (Breauté is a small town near Le Havre in France.) When he married, Falkes de Breauté acquired his wife's house which came to be known as "Fawkes Hall", subsequently corrupted over the years to "Foxhall", then "Vauxhall". In return for his services, King John granted Falkes the manor of Luton, where he built a castle alongside St Mary's Church. He was also granted the right to bear his own coat of arms and chose the mythical griffin as his heraldic emblem. The griffin thus became associated with both Vauxhall and Luton in the early 13th century.^[13]

By 1240 the town is recorded as Leueton. The town had a market for surrounding villages in August each year, and with the growth of the town a second fair was granted each October from 1338.

In 1336, much of Luton was destroyed by a great fire, however the town was soon rebuilt.

The agriculture base of the town changed in the 16th century with a brick making industry developing around Luton, many of the older wooden houses were rebuilt in brick.

17th century[link]

During the English Civil War of the 17th century, in 1645, royalists entered the town and demanded money and goods. Parliamentary forces arrived and during the fighting four royalist soldiers were killed and a further twenty-two were captured. A second skirmish occurred three years later in 1648 when a royalist army passed through Luton. A number of royalists were attacked by parliamentary soldiers at an inn on the corner of the current Bridge Street. Most of the royalists escaped but nine were killed.

18th century[link]

The hat making industry began in the 17th century and became synonymous with the town.^[14] By the 18th century the industry dominated the town. Hats are still produced in the town but on a much smaller scale.

The first Luton Workhouse was constructed in the town in 1722.

Luton Hoo, a nearby large country house was built in 1767 and substantially rebuilt after a fire in 1843. It is now a luxury hotel.^[15]

19th century[link]

A map of Luton from 1888

The town grew strongly in the 19th century. In 1801 the population was 3,095.^[16] By 1850 it was over 10,000 and by 1901 it was almost 39,000. Such rapid growth demanded a railway connection but the town had to wait a long time for one. The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) had been built through Tring in 1838, and the Great Northern Railway was built through Hitchin in 1852, both bypassing Luton, the largest town in the area. A branch line connecting with the L&BR at Leighton Buzzard was proposed, but because of objections to release of land, construction terminated at Dunstable in 1848. It was another ten years before the branch was extended to Bute Street Station, and the first train to Dunstable ran on 3 May 1858.^[17] The line was later extended to Welwyn and from 1860 direct trains to King's Cross ran. The Midland Railway was extended from Bedford to St Pancras through Leagrave and Midland Road station and opened on 9 September 1867.^[18]

Luton received a gas supply in 1834. Gas street lights were erected and the first town hall was opened in 1847.

Newspaper printing arrived in the town in 1854. The first public cemetery was opened in the same year. Following a cholera epidemic in 1848 Luton formed a water company and had a complete water and sewerage system by the late 1860s. The first covered market was built (the Plait Halls - now demolished) in 1869. Luton was made a borough in 1876.^[19] A professional football club - the first in the South of England - was founded in 1885 following a resolution at the town hall that a 'Luton Town Club be formed'.^[20]

The crest also includes a hand holding a bunch of wheat, either taken as a symbol of the straw-plaiting industry, or from the arms of John Whethamsteade, Abbott of St Albans, who rebuilt the chancel of St Mary's Church in the 15th century.

20th century[link]

Luton Museum & Art Gallery in Wardown Park

In the 20th century, the hat trade severely declined and was replaced by other industries. In 1905, Vauxhall Motors opened the largest car plant in the United Kingdom in Luton. Electrolux built a household appliances plant around the same time and this was followed by other light engineering businesses.

In 1904 councillors Asher Hucklesby and Edwin Oakley purchased the estate at Wardown Park and donated it to the people of Luton. Hucklesby went on to become Mayor of Luton. The main house in the park became Wardown Park Museum.

The town had a tram system from 1908 until 1932 and the first cinema was opened in 1909. By 1914 the population had reached 50,000.

The original town hall was destroyed in 1919 during Peace Day celebrations at the end of World War I. Local people including many ex-servicemen were unhappy with unemployment and had been refused the use of a local park to hold celebratory events. They stormed the town hall setting it alight (see Luton Town Hall). A replacement building was completed in 1936. Luton Airport opened in 1938, owned and operated by the council.

The first town hall was destroyed in 1919

In World War II, the Vauxhall Factory built Churchill tanks^[21] as part of the war effort. Despite heavy camouflage, the factory made Luton a target for the Luftwaffe and the town suffered a number of air raids. 107 died^[22] and there was extensive damage to the town (over 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyed). Other industry in the town, such as SKF which produced ball bearings, made a vital contribution to the war effort. Although a bomb landed at the SKF Factory^[23] no major damage was caused.

The pre-war years, even at the turn of the 1930s when a Great Depression saw unemployment reach record levels nationally, were something of an economic boom for Luton, as new industries grew and prospered. New private and council housing was built in the 1920s and 1930s, with Luton growing as a town to incorporate nearby villages Leagrave, Limbury and Stopsley between 1928 and 1933.^[24]

Post-war, the slum clearance continued and a number of substantial estates of council housing were built, notably at Farley Hill, Stopsley, Limbury, Marsh Farm and Leagrave (Hockwell Ring). The M1 motorway passed just to the west of the town, opening in 1959 and giving it a direct motorway link with London and - eventually - the Midlands and the North. In 1962 a new library (to replace the cramped Carnegie Library) was opened by the Queen in the corner of St George's Square.

In the late 1960s a large part of the town centre was cleared to build a large covered shopping centre, the Arndale Centre, which was opened in 1972.^[25] It was refurbished and given a glass roof in the 1990s.

The town centre still has some of the old hat factories

In 2000, Vauxhall announced the end of car production in Luton; the plant closed in March 2002.^[26] At its peak it had employed in excess of 30,000 people. Vauxhall's headquarters remain in the town, as does its van and light commercial vehicle factory.

21st century[link]

A major regeneration programme for the town centre is underway, which will include upgrades to the town's bus and railway stations as well as improvements to the town's urban environment. St George's Square has been rebuilt^[27] and reopened in 2007. The new design won a Gold Standard Award for the Town Centre Environment from the annual British Council of Shopping Centres awards.^[28]

Work was completed on an extension to the Mall Shopping Centre facing St George's Square, the largest of the new units to was taken by TK Maxx. Planning applications for a much larger extension to the Mall Arndale Shopping Centre (In the Northern Gateway area - Bute Street, Silver Street and Guildford Street) and also for a new centre in Power Court^[29] (close to St Mary's Church) have been submitted. On the edge of Luton at Putteridge Bury a high-technology office park, Butterfield Green, is under construction. The former Vauxhall site is also to be re-developed as a mixed use site called Napier Park.^[30] It will feature housing, retail and entertainment use, including a new casino.

Governance[link]

The town is situated within the historic county of Bedfordshire, but since 1997 Luton has been an administratively independent unitary authority. The town remains part of Bedfordshire for ceremonial purposes.

Luton Borough Council applied for city status at the Millennium in 2000, Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002 and Diamond Jubilee in 2012.^[31] The latest bid was rejected in March 2012.^[32]

Parliamentary representation[link]

Luton is represented by two Members of Parliament. The constituency of Luton North has been held by Kelvin Hopkins (Labour) since 1997. Luton South has been held by Gavin Shuker (Labour) since 2010. Luton is within the East of England (European Parliament constituency).

Local council[link]

Lutonians are governed by Luton Borough Council. The town is split into 19 wards, represented by 48 councillors. Elections are held for all seats every four years, with the most recent local elections held in May 2011 and the next due in May 2015. The Council is controlled by the Labour group, who have 36 Local Councillors (a majority of 24). The next largest party is the Liberal Democrats with 8 seats, followed by the Conservative Party with 4 seats.^[33]

Luton Council coat of arms[link]

In 1876 the town council was granted its own coat of arms. The wheatsheaf was used on the crest to represent agriculture and the supply of straw used in the local hatting industry (the straw-plaiting industry was brought to Luton by a group of Scots under the protection of Sir John Napier of Luton Hoo). The bee is traditionally the emblem of industry and the hive represents the straw-plaiting industry for which Luton was famous. The rose is from the arms of the Napier family, whereas the thistle is a symbol for Scotland. An alternative suggestion is that the rose was a national emblem, and the thistle represents the Marquess of Bute, who formerly owned the Manor of Luton Hoo.^[34][35]

Geography[link]

A pedestrian suspension bridge spans the River Lea in Wardown Park.

Luton is located in a break in the Eastern part of the Chiltern Hills. The Chilterns are a mixture of chalk from the Cretaceous period^[36] (about 65-146 million years ago) and deposits laid at the southernmost points of the ice sheet during the last ice age (the Warden Hills area can be seen from much of the town).

Bedfordshire had a reputation for brick making but the industry is now significantly reduced. The brickworks^[37] at Stopsley took advantage of the clay deposits in the east of the town.

The source of the River Lea, part of the Thames Valley drainage basin, is in the Leagrave area of the town. The Great Bramingham Wood surrounds this area. It is classified as ancient woodland; records mention the wood at least 400 years ago.

There are few routes through the hilly area for some miles, this has led to several major roads (including the M1 and the A6) and a major rail-link being constructed through the town.

Climate[link]

Luton has a temperate marine climate, like much of the British Isles, with generally light precipitation throughout the year. The weather is very changeable from day to day and the warming influence of the Gulf Stream makes the region mild for its latitude. The average total annual rainfall is 698 mm (27.5 in) with rain falling on 117 days of the year.

The local climate around Luton is differentiated somewhat from much of South East England due to its position in the Chiltern Hills, meaning it tends to be 1-2 degrees Celsius cooler than the surrounding towns - often flights at Luton airport, lying 160 m above sea level, will be suspended when marginal snow events occur, while airports at lower elevations, such as Heathrow, at 25 m above sea level, continue to function. An example of this is shown in the photograph to the right, the snowline being about 100 m above sea level. Absolute temperature extremes recorded at Rothamsted Research Station, 5 miles (8 km) south south east of Luton town centre and at a similar elevation range from −17 °C (1.4 °F)^[38] in December 1981 and −16.7 °C (1.9 °F) in January 1963^[39] to 36.0 °C (96.8 °F) in August 2003^[40] and 33.8 °C (92.8 °F) in August 1990^[41] and July 2006.^[42] Records for Rothamsted date back to 1901.

Areas[link]

The Victorian expansion of Luton focused on areas close to the existing town centre and railways. In the 1920s and 1930s growth typically was though absorbing neighbouring villages and hamlets and infill construction between them and Luton. After the Second World War there were several estates and developments constructed both by the local authority such as Farley Hill or Marsh Farm, or privately such as Bushmead.

Barnfield Biscot Bramingham Challney Crawley Dallow Farley Hill High Town Icknield Leagrave

Lewsey Limbury-cum-Biscot Northwell Round Green Saints South ward Stopsley Sundon Park Wigmore

More about Places within Luton

Demography[link]

The United Kingdom Census 2001 showed that Luton had a population of 184,371, a 5.8% increase from the last census meaning that Luton was the 27th^[44] largest settlement in the UK. Of this, 43,324 were under 15, 131,660 were between 16 and 74 and 9387 were over 74.^[45] The Office for National Statistics mid-year estimate of the 2010 population is 198,800.^[46] However, the Luton Borough Council Research and Geospatial Information team criticise this figure as understating the recent immigration from Eastern Europe, and they estimate the true figure to be approximately 205,900.^[3]

Local inhabitants are known as Lutonians.

Ethnicity[link]

Luton has seen several waves of immigration. In the early part of the 20th century Irish and Scottish people arrived in the town - these were followed by Afro-Caribbean and Asian immigrants. More recently immigrants from Eastern Europe have made Luton their home. As a result of this Luton has a diverse ethnic mix, with a significant population of Asian descent, mainly Pakistani (8.6%), Indian (4.2%) and Bangladeshi (4.1%). The 2009 estimates from the Office of National Statistics figures show that the town has a white population of 68.0% (of which white British amount to 59.4%).