The Council and the LLAL propaganda machine likes to promote the replacement for Wigmore Valley Park claiming the new open space (which even they don’t call a park) will be 10% bigger and “better” than the existing park, while ignoring the fact that Wigmore Park is not only a County Wildlife site, but has also been granted not one, but two independent Asset of Community Value Orders due to its importance to the local community & further afield.
They also fail to mention that Wigmore Park has reached the final stages of being declared the “Fields In Trust” Best UK park for 2019 .
The Council and LLAL has also conveniently ignored that the new proposed open space is not even in Luton or even Bedfordshire, but in the neighbouring county of Hertfordshire. The newly proposed open space will be much further away for Luton residents & far less accessible for local residents, being too far to walk for many.
The proposed open space in Hertfordshire is a farmer’s field that has been bought by LLAL. With years of agricultural use, the soil is too rich in phosphates & fertilisers to support native British wildflowers such as orchids which Wigmore Park has thousands of. The new “open” space would have next to no trees. The airport operator who runs the airport under a concession agreement has already stated that they would object to the planting of any new trees in documents submitted regarding the initial proposal to move the park.
It could take decades until we saw a change, where biodiversity is present in numbers, but the reality is there are no guarantees that current County Wildlife status conditions can ever be replicated.
How is any of this better?
The two photos show the existing Wigmore Park and the proposed replacement open space which will be so much better according to LLAL. The question is which do you prefer?
