A report by CABE’s design review panel said S&P architects had failed to capitalise on the “wonderful opportunity” to give Luton a prominent new civic building.

Instead, the report claimed, the car park has been given too much prominence, there is a lack of interaction between the building and surrounding landscape and there is too much glazing, which could lead to glare.

The £21 million scheme is to be built to replace a 30m-long swimming pool, and has been designed to include a multi-purpose pool, sports hall, changing facilities and landscaping.

The CABE report said the design should have a more prominent entrance to encourage people to cycle or walk to the centre rather than rely on cars.

It also claimed the building ran the risk of looking like an “out-of-town office development” and should instead focus on features such as cafés and play areas spilling out into the adjacent green space.

You can read CABE’s comments in full on their website.

We will invest an extra £2.5bn in schools through a Pupil Premium that will raise funding for the poorest pupils to private school levels.

The money will be targeted at schools taking on children who need more help, but will benefit every child in every school. The cash can be used to cut class sizes and provide one-to-one tuition or catch-up classes, ensuring every child gets the individual attention they need.

An average primary school could cut class sizes to 20. An average secondary school could see classes of just 16.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:

“In 1997, when New Labour was first elected, no one would have believed it would end like this.

“Labour’s bright promise of a fair society has faded away.

“Our big task now is giving people back their hope that things can be different, and better, and that the fair society we have hoped for so long can become a reality.

“If you want to build that fair society I believe education is everything. That is why the biggest financial commitment in our manifesto is to our schools.

“With the deficit as it is, everyone knows money is tight, but this is a question of priorities.

“We have identified in our manifesto £15bn of savings, of which we will redirect just £5bn to alternate spending. It is a measure of my personal commitment and passion for education that half of that money will go into our schools.

“Our plans will raise the money spent on the million children from the poorest backgrounds to private school levels.

“Headteachers will be able to use that money on a whole range of measures to help all pupils and all schools.

“Cutting class sizes, providing more one-to-one tuition and catch-up classes: whatever suits their school and their pupils’ needs best. With a simple, but profound ambition: to make sure every child gets the fair start in life they deserve.”

To give every child a fair start, we will spend an extra £2.5bn a year on schools. The money will be targeted at schools taking on children who need more help, but will benefit every child in every school. The cash can be used to cut class sizes, provide one-to-one tuition, catch-up classes or in anyway the school wishes, ensuring every child gets the individual attention they need. An average primary school could cut class sizes to 20. An average secondary school could see classes of just 16.

Performance at school is closely linked to children’s background. The poorest children are only half as likely to get 5 good GCSEs as other children. Too often, the poorest children start school already struggling and fall further behind as they grow older.

Schools taking disadvantaged children aren’t getting the money they need to cut class sizes and provide them with extra support. The existing methods for distributing deprivation related funding are confusing and inconsistent. Nearly one in three secondary school pupils eligible for free school meals attends a relatively affluent secondary school.

Area based targeting therefore misses a large proportion of the poorest pupils – including in many rural areas. There is a huge gap between poor children in different parts of the country: in Kensington and Chelsea, 59% of poor children get 5 good GCSEs, while in Rutland, it’s 14%.

The Pupil Premium would be available to the school which each disadvantaged pupil attended. It would be attached to the million children with the highest levels of disadvantage. The Pupil Premium would be set nationally and it would top up a national per pupil base funding figure. It will raise the poorest children’s school funding to private school levels, with the average school receiving around £2500 extra for every child entitled to free school meals on their roll. Head teachers would be free to spend the money as they see fit, to raise standards in their school.

This policy costs £2.5bn a year, and will be introduced in the second year of the Parliament after our jobs stimulus package, paid for from savings in government such as our proposed reforms to tax credits (which will save up to £1.5bn) and administrative savings in the Department for Education and quangos (which saves up to an additional £1bn).

Qurban Hussain with South candidate Richard Hayward

They have chosen local campaigner Richard Hayward.

Liberal Democrat candidate for Luton South in the General Election, Qurban Hussain, welcomed the choice. He said;

“I am delighted that Richard has been chosen to represent the Liberal Democrats in this council by-election. Having been a councillor in Luton for many years I know who important it is to get young people like Richard elected to represent the people of the town and to challenge the useless Labour administration at the Town Hall.”

Richard lives in the ward in Somersby Close and until very recently worked at the University of Bedfordshire.

Richard says;

“I am very honoured to be chosen by the Liberal Democrats as their candidate in this by-election. I look forward to joining Qurban Hussain on the campaign trail and meeting many of the residents of South ward.”

The council by-election will take place on Thursday 6th May, the same day as the general election.

Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg tours 2K Manufacturing in Luton with Luton South candidate Qurban Hussain and CEO Omer Kutluoglu 13 April 2010. Credit Alex Folkes

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg MP, made a return visit to Luton yesterday.

He met with Liberal Democrat candidate for Luton South Qurban Hussain and together they toured the factory of 2K Manufacturing which makes products from recycled plastic.

Qurban Hussain said; “I was delighted to welcome Nick back to Luton. This is the third time in a few months that Nick Clegg has visited the town and it shows just how seriouly the Liberal Democrats are taking our campaign in Luton South.”

The choice at this election is who is going to put Luton South first?

Under Labour we have seen Vauxhall close, the gap between the richest and poorest increase and have been without a working MP for nearly a year. They have continued to put the Labour party before the people of Luton South.

The past Conservative governments hit Luton South hard, they have only two Councillors in the constituency and plan to cut taxes for millionaires instead of supporting Liberal Democrat plans to raise the income tax threshold to £10k. Only the Liberal Democrats can defeat Labour in Luton South and bring real, fair change to our community.

The old, broken politics of Labour and Conservative has continued to let our town and country down. The Liberal Democrats offer real change and a fair society that will help to improve the lives of all residents.

Unlike many candidates in this election, I am proud to live and work in Luton South. It is my home, where I choose to raise my children and where I am honoured to represent as a Councillor.

The decisions our next MP makes will affect all of our lives and the best person to make those decisions is a Lutonian.  As Lutonians we have a passion and dedication to our town and fellow residents that those who choose not to live here will never have.

The Liberal Democrats and I are campaigning to get our banks lending to local businesses to create new jobs, to invest more in our schools, to increase pay and resources for our armed forces and to reform our broken, corrupt system of politics in Westminster.

Locally I will continue to campaign to protect our green belt, to rid our streets of extremism, support local charities and to attract new businesses to our town to create a prosperous, secure future for our children.

On May 6^th we will have the choice to decide who represents us in Westminster. The choice is clear between the Liberal Democrats and candidates who want to represent us but do not even want to live here and candidates whose parties have always put self-interest before local residents.

Let us choose to put Luton South first.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has visited twice in the last year to visit Luton South businesses and meet with local residents while Treasury Spokesperson Vince Cable visited earlier this year.

Luton South residents will take from this that the Labour Party only want to listen to people when they want their vote as they continually failed to listen to or respond to public anger regarding our disgraced MP Margaret Moran.

The Liberal Democrats though have continued to stand up for local residents and Nick Clegg and I have been campaigning for reform of the rotten system in Westminster for many years.

Local residents need to be represented locally and in Westminster all year round, not just when politicians are trying to hold onto their jobs. Once again the Labour party are doing far too little, far too late.

As a Luton South resident here are some of the questions I’d like to the Foreign Secretary and the Labour candidate to answer:

• Why will Margaret Moran’s pension be more than the salary of some of our front line Armed Forces?
• Why do we have the money to pay bankers bonuses at a time when families are struggling to get by?
• Why did the Labour Party never support local campaigns calling for Margaret Moran to resign?
• Why did the Government take us into an illegal war in Iraq with no evidence?
• Why don’t Labour support raising the income tax threshold to £10k to help those on low and middle incomes?
• Why did it take almost a year for Labour to suspend Margaret Moran from the Labour Party?
• Why won’t Labour scrap tuition fees to give every student a fair start?
• Why did Vauxhall and other key manufacturing firms leave Luton under a Labour Government?
• Why do our Police spend time doing mountains of paperwork rather than policing our streets?
• Why did the Labour party think it acceptable for Luton South residents to go without an MP for a year?
• Why did Labour not back Liberal Democrat plans to give people the right to sack their MP?

Responding to Alistair Darling’s Budget, Nick Clegg said:

“This Budget was a political dodge not an economic plan.

“Britain needed a Budget that gave us honesty in spending and fairness in tax, we have got neither.

“Labour is in denial, while the Conservatives are talking tough to cover up that they only offer more of the same.

“The Chancellor is incapable of coming clean about where spending cuts will have to fall.

“Rather than being honest with people about what the Government can and cannot afford, the Chancellor would rather let others indiscriminately shave departmental budgets.

“By confirming the freeze in personal allowances the Government has ensured everyone will see a real increase in their income tax bill – when what people on low and middle incomes desperately need is an income tax cut.

“Rather than forcing the nationalised banks to lend to good British businesses they have chosen to create a feeble quango to arbitrate between bullying banks and their small business clients.

“It says something when the most substantive announcement the Government can come up with is a tax agreement with Belize, however welcome that may be.”

The news comes on the back of Cllr. Qurban Hussain, Luton South Lib Dem PPC, aruging that the Labour party failed to listen to local residents when the Luton Liberal Democrats, with support from Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg, called for Ms. Moran to resign and to give people the right to sack their MPs. If the Labour and Conservative Parties had agreed to support these calls then Ms. Moran would not have been in a position to further neglect her constituents.

“Liberal Democrats brought forward measures to restrict the influence of lobbyists in Parliament. Sadly, Labour voted them down while the Tories failed to show up,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House.

Commenting on claims that former Government ministers have offered to influence policy for cash, David Heath said:

“MPs should not be using their positions to further their own interests over those of the people they should be representing.

“Liberal Democrats brought forward measures to restrict the influence of lobbyists in Parliament. Sadly, Labour voted them down while the Tories failed to show up.

“Labour and the Tories claim they want to clean up politics but the reality proves different.

“Once again it seems the Government and the Tories will say one thing while the truth reveals another.”

The first was issued following the broadcast of Channel 4’s Dispatches investigation into Luton South Labour MP Margaret Moran. The second was issued following the announcement that Ms. Moran had been suspended by the Labour Party.

Statement one:

After not being seen in Luton South for a year fellow Luton South residents we have finally seen our MP again. Rather than doing work for us, her constituents and who she is paid to work for, she was busy trying to get work for herself.

I am sure the people of Luton South will remember on election day that the Luton Labour party failed to speak up for them and call for Ms. Moran to resign.

Statement two:

Margaret Moran suspended by Labour Party – Too little to late

Cllr. Qurban Hussain, Luton South Liberal Democrat PPC, this week addressed a meeting at a local mosque and called for an end to extremism of all kinds and to allow any further erosion of our civil liberties. Qurban, a noted anti-extremism campaigner, spoke passionately about his love for his town and the pride local residents have for it.

Cllr. Hussain argued:

“The civil liberties that we all enjoy in the United Kingdom today are of result of centuries hard campaigns and sacrifices. Today we are facing a real danger of them being misused by some and curtailed by others. It is our responsibility to respect these liberties and protect them. We ought to stand up and not allow them to be misused or curtailed.

Be it religious extremism or political extremism, they are both dangerous for our society and we ought to stand up to them and challenge them head-on. All religions teach brotherhood, moderation and tolerance and if we follow these principals we can’t go wrong. Let us all work together to build a society based on these principals.

In Luton we are a proud, united community. With fantastic local campaigns such as Luton in Harmony I believe our town will become an example to others of how to work together to rid our community of extremism and protect the liberties that make our country great.”