The location of the Woodside Industrial Estate, which is mostly located in Houghton Regis, and the development of the sites on Boscombe Road in Dunstable have resulted in attracting major employers such as Amazon and Superdrug due to the accessibility to the M1.
The A5 runs from Junction 9 of the M1 to Milton Keynes and also serves Leighton Buzzard by means of the A505. This carries a large amount of traffic including lorries through the centre of Dunstable where they also meet traffic which has turned off from Junction 11 of the M1 causing disruption and traffic jams on roads not designed for that volume of traffic.
Two new roads currently being built to the North of Dunstable and Houghton Regis will not only result in reducing this congestion, but will also make the access to the M1 easier for traffic from the Woodside Industrial Estate and it also coincides with the start of a new development area north of Houghton Regis, where 5,600 new homes are to be built and 30 hectares of employment land are to be developed.
The Woodside Link
The Woodside Link is 2.9km long (1.8 miles) and will connect the industrial areas of Dunstable and Houghton Regis to a new M1 junction 11a thereby reducing traffic congestion and supporting new housing developments and economic growth. It will provide access to the new development area north of Houghton Regis, where 5,600 new homes are to be built and 30 hectares of employment land developed by 2031.
The A5-M1 Link Road
The A5-M1 Link is a 2.9m two-lane dual carriageway that will run between the A5 and the M1 at a new Junction 11A to the south of the existing Toddington Motorway Services Area.
It will increase accessibility between Milton Keynes and M1 Junction 9 and reduce congestion on the A5 taking traffic away from local roads in Dunstable and Houghton Regis.
At the moment the A5 provides a route from Milton Keynes to the M1 at Junction 9, passing through the built-up area of Dunstable. The new A5-M1 link road is expected to reduce journey times and improve journey time reliability for long distance traffic by reducing traffic travelling to Junctions 11 and 12 from the local road network in Dunstable, Houghton Regis and surrounding areas
Both the Woodside Link and A5-M1 Link are due to open to public in the spring of 2017
These improved transport links are likely to attract more companies looking to create a base just outside London with the convenience of the access to the M1.
When Amazon opened in Dunstable last October they employed 500 staff straight away putting a large strain on the local rental market which still continues now with a large number of enquiries every time we market a property.
I have discussed the potential for more HMO’s in Dunstable with some of the investors/landlords at the Luton Property Investors Network (Luton PIN) where I am the Lettings Expert who presents the lettings update. I can offer you a free invitation to the next meeting if you have never been to a PIN meeting before. Many of the attendees are experienced landlords with HMO’s in Luton and other areas. They can now see the growing potential in Dunstable an area where HMO’s have previously numbered only a handful.
