User:Leighton Buzzard Society/sandbox

The Leighton Buzzard Society is a group established to ensure that the historic town of Leighton Buzzard Linslade and the surrounding villages and countryside remain an attractive area in which to live, work and enjoy leisure.

Active in all areas of proposed change and development, the Society liaises closely with local and regional government to ensure that the views of local people are heard.

The Society promotes a better built environment and discourages sprawling growth. It campaigns for the preservation of the Green Belt and the protection of open spaces, woodlands and the environs of the river and canal. Additionally the Society, through links with other groups, encourages the active improvement of the local environment and public consultation and enquiries on major issues.

Other areas of concern include the provision of satisfactory amenities and facilities needed to serve the increasing population of the area.

Highway plans, traffic flows and proposals for aircraft routes are also monitored, as are associated problems of noise and other pollution and action is taken as necessary.

Proposals for improvements of the area are developed by the Society while the best of that which exists is defended.

We hold regular meetings on topics of local interest which are open to the public, we arrange visits to local sites of interest and we distribute a regular newsletter to our members.

Sand and mineral extraction and attendant traffic and disturbance is a subject for routine review.

The Society is frequently consulted on major issues such as the Local Structure Plan, mass housing proposals, highway plans or new landing/departure routes for London Luton Airport.

Request review at WP:AFC
HISTORY The 1960s was a 		time of great change in Leighton Buzzard - as  elsewhere in Britain. Buildings which had stood two or three hundred years were being swept  		away and replaced by some of the least  inspired architecture in  		history. The South Bedfordshire Preservation Society had been formed to  		try to prevent this. They were regarded by many, including the town  		planners, as harmless  eccentrics who were best ignored. But, as a 		result of their efforts,  the local paper noted at the end of 1960 “There  		seems to be a new  spirit in Leighton - a spirit of protest against  		planning”. By 1965 it became 		clear that Leighton needed a group of its  own, and the local members of  		the South Bedfordshire Society formed  the Leighton Buzzard and District  		Preservation Society, to focus on  the towns of Leighton Buzzard and  		Linslade and the surrounding  villages. One of the proposals fought by 		the new Society was the  creation of a drive-in cinema in King’s Wood,  		Heath and Reach. King’s Wood is now classified as a Site of Special 		Scientific  Interest and a National Nature Reserve, illustrating how  		awareness of  the need to cherish the best in our natural and built  		environment  has grown in 40 years. In 2001, it was 		decided that the Society should be known simply  as “The Leighton Buzzard  		Society”. The word ‘preservation’ was thought to give too restricted an  		impression, as the Society had  always supported good developments and  		improvements, and not just  strived to keep everything as it was. Although for brevity the name no longer contains ‘and District’, the  		Society still covers the  surrounding villages.