CPRE, the countryside charity, is today (25 October) disappointed that the government has decided not to intervene and carry out a public inquiry on proposed plans for a M1 and A6 link road, north of Luton, Central Bedfordshire, part of which will run through the protected Chilterns Areas of Outstanding National Beauty.

In a response letter to CPRE Bedfordshire, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Right Honourable Robert Jenrick MP, declined to intervene.

CPRE Bedfordshire had called on the government to halt the application and allow a full public review of plans for the construction of a new single and dual carriageway road between the M1 junction 11a and the A6 Barton Road, which would have a detrimental impact on the designated Chilterns AONB landscape.

Tom Fyans, Deputy Chief Executive of CPRE, the countryside charity, said:

‘We thought that when the Government had introduced a tighter-sounding planning policy on protected landscapes and commissioned Julian Glover’s review, that Ministers were going to stop betraying beauty. Unfortunately by giving the green light for this completely unjustified and unnecessary intrusion into the Chilterns AONB to go ahead, they have failed the first real test. Not only will the road lead to countryside loss but also to increased air pollution and carbon emissions, taking us in exactly the opposite direction to where we need to be going to tackle the climate emergency.’