Downs Road Dunstable, Central Bedfordshire

79 addresses across 4 postcodes (LU5), about 450 m long, classed as a local road. USRN 35100525.

114 recorded sales since 1995; in 2026 the median was £325,000 across 1 sale. 48 homes have an energy certificate (B: 1, C: 8, D: 31, E: 8). 1 address on its postcodes is in areas at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers, the sea or surface water. Most homes around it are in council tax band D; Band D in Central Bedfordshire costs £2,516 a year in 2026-27. Gigabit broadband is available to 75% to 100% of premises. The nearest railway station is Leagrave, about 4.2 km away in a straight line. The nearest park or garden, Blow's Downs, is about 150 m away. Background air pollution in 2024 was 9.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.4 of PM2.5, within UK legal limits. Its addresses are 152 to 160 m above sea level. 1 of its 79 addresses is modelled at 55 dB or more from road traffic. The nearest GP surgery is Kingsbury Court Surgery, about 900 m away, with 5 practices within 1.6 km. About 1,100 people lived in the census areas around it in 2021; 81% of households owned their home and 30% of adults held a degree or other higher qualification. 37 crimes were recorded within 250 m between September 2025 and August 2026, most often vehicle crime.

Sales on this street

Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, sales registered up to 28 August 2026, loaded 28 October 2026. Sales reach the register two weeks to two months after completion, so the last two months are incomplete. Matched by postcode and street name.

Sales by year (standard sales only; repossessions and buy-to-let transfers excluded)
YearSalesMedian priceLowestHighest
20261£325,000£325,000£325,000
20252£313,000£176,000£450,000
20241£455,000£455,000£455,000
20236£330,000£245,000£488,000
20227£430,000£175,500£570,000
20214£372,500£300,000£432,000
20202£285,000£260,000£310,000
20182£236,250£185,000£287,500
20171£385,000£385,000£385,000
20164£221,250£137,500£292,500
20157£269,995£100,000£470,000
20142£242,500£160,000£325,000
Most recent sales (114)
DateAddressTypePriceNotes
20 Mar 202666 LU5 4DESemi-detached£325,000
28 Mar 202575 LU5 4DESemi-detached£450,000
14 Jan 202517A LU5 4DDFlat or maisonette£176,000Leasehold.
8 Oct 202483 LU5 4DEDetached£455,000
27 Oct 202326 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£400,000
31 Jul 202339 LU5 4DDFlat or maisonette£245,000Leasehold.
30 Jun 20234 LU5 4DDTerraced£250,000
21 Jun 202311 LU5 4DDTerraced£310,000
9 Jun 202334 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£350,000
2 Feb 202338A LU5 4DDDetached£488,000
13 Dec 202224 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£430,000
21 Oct 202240 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£440,000
25 Sep 20226 LU5 4DDTerraced£300,000
7 Sep 202221 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£460,000
2 Sep 202217 LU5 4DDFlat or maisonette£175,500Leasehold.
8 Jun 202253 LU5 4DDDetached£570,000
21 Mar 202238 LU5 4DDDetached£390,000
17 Nov 202173 LU5 4DESemi-detached£315,000
16 Sep 202127 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£430,000
23 Jun 202170 LU5 4DESemi-detached£300,000
16 Jun 202141 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£432,000
23 Oct 20208 LU5 4DDTerraced£260,000
3 Feb 202027 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£310,000
12 Oct 201839 LU5 4DDFlat or maisonette£185,000Leasehold.
2 Mar 201872 LU5 4DESemi-detached£287,500
19 Oct 201781 LU5 4DEDetached£385,000
24 May 20168 LU5 4DDTerraced£212,500
29 Apr 201617A LU5 4DDFlat or maisonette£137,500Leasehold.
14 Mar 201636 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£292,500
12 Feb 201639 LU5 4DDFlat or maisonette£140,000Leasehold. Not a standard sale (repossession, buy-to-let or transfer).
29 Jan 20167 LU5 4DDTerraced£230,000
1 Dec 201587 LU5 4DEDetached£470,000
28 Oct 201537 LU5 4DDFlat or maisonette£100,000Leasehold.
28 Aug 201560 LU5 4DESemi-detached£269,995
28 Aug 201517 LU5 4DDFlat or maisonette£136,500Leasehold.
1 May 201538 LU5 4DDDetached£312,000
13 Feb 201531 LU5 4DDDetached£315,000
6 Feb 201517A LU5 4DDFlat or maisonette£134,995Leasehold.
30 Sep 201485 LU5 4DEDetached£325,000
2 Jun 20148 LU5 4DDTerraced£160,000
21 Aug 201329 LU5 4DDDetached£335,000
19 Dec 20122 LU5 4DDTerraced£154,000
26 Oct 201276 LU5 4DEDetached£391,000
29 Jun 201275 LU5 4DESemi-detached£230,000
29 Jun 201261 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£195,000
18 Jan 201258 LU5 4DEDetached£250,000
24 Nov 20118 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£123,000
6 Jul 201160 LU5 4DESemi-detached£167,500
30 Nov 200930 LU5 4DDSemi-detached£215,000
5 Aug 200985 LU5 4DEDetached£235,000

Energy performance certificates

Source: Energy Performance of Buildings Register (MHCLG), register as at 13 October 2026. Latest certificate per address; certificates last ten years, so the oldest here dates from June 2009 and some homes have none. Address data © Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail, shown for understanding the energy efficiency of buildings only.

48 homes with a current certificate; median floor area 102 m². Most common: House, semi-detached (17); House, detached (16); House, mid-terrace (5). Built: 1900-1929 (18); 1930-1949 (18); 1950-1966 (8). Tenure at assessment: owner-occupied (36); rented (private) (1); rented (social) (1).

Council tax

What each band costs in Central Bedfordshire in 2026-27: Band D £2,516 a year on average, including the police, fire and any county and parish charges.

ABCDEFGH
£1,677£1,957£2,237£2,516£3,075£3,634£4,194£5,032

Homes by band in the neighbourhoods around this street: most are in band D (32% of about 1,480 homes).

Sources: Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties, homes at 31 March 2026 (counts rounded to the nearest 10; some small counts withheld), for the 2 neighbourhoods (census areas of about 700 homes each) around it, not just this street; Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, council tax levels 2026-27. Bands are charged as fixed shares of Band D; the actual bill depends on the parish and on discounts such as the single-person discount. Check a home's own band with the official council tax band checker.

Planning and heritage

  • Conservation area: no postcode centre in this street's postcodes is in one.
  • Listed buildings on or by this street: none.
  • Article 4 direction (removing permitted development rights): none recorded, though not every council has published theirs.
  • Tree preservation orders: none recorded, though not every council has published theirs.
  • Green belt: no.

Brownfield land registered for housing within 1.0 km

Source: planning.data.gov.uk (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), compiled from councils and, for listed buildings, Historic England's National Heritage List. Conservation areas, Article 4 directions, tree preservation areas and the green belt are checked at each postcode's centre. Listed buildings and protected trees are counted on or by this street. Councils publish Article 4 directions, tree preservation orders and brownfield registers to different standards, and some not yet. Planning applications are not here: there is no national open record of them yet.

Roadworks

No street works under way, planned or finished in the last three months on this street, in permits up to 30 September 2026.

Source: Department for Transport, Street Manager open data, permits and works up to 30 September 2026. It is published once a month, so works arranged or started since then are not shown, and dates are the ones planned unless the works have started or finished. Emergency works are often permitted after they begin.

Flood risk

Rivers, the sea or surface water: in this street's postcodes, 0 addresses are in areas at high risk, 1 at medium risk and 13 at low risk. Each address counts once, at the higher of its rivers-and-sea and surface-water risk.

Rivers and the sea alone: no home is in an area at risk.

High: 3.3% (1 in 30) or more chance of flooding a year. Medium: 1% to 3.3%. Low: 0.1% to 1%. Very low: under 0.1%. The rivers and sea figures allow for flood defences. Counts cover whole postcodes, which can include other streets.

Flood zone for planning: no postcode centre on this street is in flood zone 2 or 3.

PostcodePlanning zoneAddresses at high / medium / low riskGroundwater
LU5 4DDnot in 2 or 3 0 / 1 / 3 unlikely
LU5 4DEnot in 2 or 3 0 / 0 / 0 unlikely
LU5 4DAnot in 2 or 3 0 / 0 / 0 unlikely
LU5 4DQnot in 2 or 3 0 / 0 / 10 unlikely

Sources: Environment Agency Flood risk: postcode search tool data (loaded 29 October 2026), Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea: postcodes in areas at risk (loaded 29 October 2026) and Flood Map for Planning (loaded 28 October 2026). Flood zones are checked at each postcode's centre point. These are models of areas, which their publishers say are not suitable for showing whether an individual property is at risk, and they do not cover flooding from sewers or drains. Check an address on the official long-term flood risk service.

Height above sea level

The street's 79 addresses are between 152 m and 160 m above sea level (156 m on average); the ground rises about 8 m from the lowest to the highest.

Source: Ordnance Survey, OS Terrain 50, July 2026: the height of the ground on a 50 m grid, read at each address, in metres above Ordnance Datum (mean sea level at Newlyn). It is the lie of the land, not floor or threshold levels, and is accurate to a few metres. Being low-lying is not in itself a flood risk; the flood section above says what the flood maps show.

Broadband

Source: Ofcom Connected Nations, data as at January 2026. Percentages are of premises in each postcode that can get the service, not take-up or speed achieved.

Availability by postcode (% of premises)
PostcodeSuperfast (30 Mbit/s+)Ultrafast (300 Mbit/s+)GigabitBelow 10 Mbit/s
LU5 4DA100%100%100%0%
LU5 4DD100%100%100%0%
LU5 4DE100%100%100%0%
LU5 4DQ75%75%75%0%

Getting around

Sources: Department for Transport, NaPTAN (every public transport stop), as at 31 October 2026; Office of Rail and Road, Estimates of station usage 2024–25 (which stations are on the National Rail network, and their journeys: entries and exits in the year to March); OurAirports (public domain, kept by volunteers); car parks and charging points from Overture Maps Foundation, release 2026-10-21.0, which gathers business listings from Meta, Microsoft, Foursquare and others: not an official register, so some will be missing, private or out of date. Distances are straight lines from the middle of the street, not routes, and say nothing about how often anything runs. Stations opened since the end of ORR's year appear when ORR publishes the next one, each December; heritage railways are left out.

NearestDistance
Railway stationsLeagrave 1.5 million journeys in 2024–254.2 km
Luton 3.7 million journeys in 2024–256.4 km
Luton Airport Parkway 4.7 million journeys in 2024–257.7 km
Bus stops1 stop within 400 m, 27 within 800 m; nearest Mayfield Road Downside390 m
Bus or coach stationLuton Station Interchange Luton Town Centre6.2 km
Car parksAshton Square Car Park1.1 km
EV charging points9 within 1.6 km; nearest InstaVolt Charging Station640 m
Airport with scheduled flightsLondon Luton Airport LTN9.6 km

Local services

Sources: NHS Organisation Data Service, as at 31 October 2026: GP practices, community pharmacies and dental practices with an NHS contract, open now, each placed at the centre of its postcode; hospitals are NHS trust and Welsh health board sites named as hospitals, and may not have an emergency department. Police stations and cash machines from Overture Maps Foundation, release 2026-10-21.0, which gathers business listings: not an official register, so some will be missing or out of date. Distances are straight lines from the middle of the street. Nothing here says whether a practice is taking new patients or a dentist new NHS patients.

NearestDistance
GP surgeries5 practices within 1.6 km; nearest Kingsbury Court Surgery900 m
Pharmacies7 pharmacies within 1.6 km; nearest Mayfield Pharmacy440 m
NHS dentists5 practices within 1.6 km; nearest Great Northern Rd. Dental Clinic390 m
HospitalLuton And Dunstable University Hospital2.6 km
Police stationDunstable Police Station1.2 km
Cash machines2 machines within 800 m; nearest Downside Supermarket500 m

Parks and green space

Source: Ordnance Survey, OS Open Greenspace, April 2026: public parks and gardens, play spaces, playing fields and allotments, with their entrances. Distances are straight lines from the middle of the street to a site's nearest entrance (or its edge where none is recorded), not walking routes; sizes are the area OS maps for each site. Some sites, such as school playing fields, may not be open to the public.

NearestDistance
Park or garden1 within 800 m; nearest Blow's Downs 43 ha150 m
Play area2 within 800 m; nearest Unnamed 360 m²170 m
Playing field1 within 800 m; nearest Unnamed 3.9 ha630 m
AllotmentsUnnamed 2.8 ha1.4 km

Within 800 m: 1 park or garden, 43 hectares in all.

Landmarks

The nearest historic landmark is Chew's House, a listed building (Grade II*), 730 m west. 25 listed buildings are within 1.0 km, 2 of them Grade I and 3 of them Grade II*.

Historic places
NameWhat it isFrom the middle of the street
Chew's HouseListed building, Grade II*730 m west
Dunstable PrioryScheduled monument810 m north-west
Priory Church of St PeterListed building, Grade I820 m north-west
Marshe AlmshousesListed building, Grade II*830 m north-west
Priory Gateway and attached wallsListed building, Grade I850 m north-west
Medieval village 100m west of Zouches FarmScheduled monument1.1 km east
Natural landmarks within 5.0 km
NameWhat it isFrom the middle of the street
Stipers HillHill800 m south
Grove SpringWood920 m east
Dame Ellen's WoodWood1.4 km south-east
Skimpot WoodWood1.6 km east
Little John's WoodWood1.6 km south-east
Twentynine WoodWood1.8 km east

Sources: Historic England's registers through planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG), and Cadw through DataMapWales (Welsh Government): World Heritage Sites within 10.0 km, battlefields within 5.0 km, registered parks and gardens within 3.0 km, scheduled monuments within 2.0 km, and Grade I and II* listed buildings within 1.0 km. Ordnance Survey, OS Open Names, October 2026: named hills, valleys, lakes, woods, wetlands and coast (it has no rivers). Distances are in a straight line to the middle of each site, and being on a register does not mean there is public access.

Air quality

Source: Defra, modelled background air pollution, annual means for 2024, for the 1 km square that holds the middle of the street. These are background levels, away from the kerb: beside a busy road nitrogen dioxide in particular can be several times higher. UK limits are the legal annual limits for England and Wales; the World Health Organization's 2021 guidelines are much stricter, and most towns and cities are above them.

Annual means in µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic metre of air)
PollutantHereUK limitWHO guideline
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)9.34010
Fine particles (PM2.5)7.4205
Particles (PM10)11.94015

All three are within the UK legal limits; PM2.5 is above the WHO guideline, as in most towns and cities.

Road and rail noise

Source: Defra, strategic noise mapping Round 4 (England), modelled for 2021 and published in December 2023: Lden, the average sound level over a whole day with extra weight for the evening and night, on a 10 m grid, read at each address. These are models of traffic on the roads and railways, not measurements; they leave out aircraft, industry and neighbours, and a room at the back of a house is often much quieter than the front. The World Health Organization's guidelines are 53 dB for road traffic and 54 dB for railways.

Addresses by modelled noise level (Lden, dB)
LevelRoad trafficRailways
55 to 5910
Under 557879

1 of the street's 79 addresses is modelled at 55 dB or more from road traffic, above the WHO guidelines.

Nearest schools

Source: Get Information About Schools (Department for Education), 1 November 2026; Ofsted monthly management information as at September 2026. Distances are straight lines from the middle of the street to the school; catchments and admissions are not shown. Since November 2025 Ofsted gives report-card grades by area, not one overall grade; older grades stand until a school is re-inspected.

SchoolPhaseAgesDistanceInspection
St. Augustine's Academy Church of EnglandPrimary4–11350 m No published inspection
Priory AcademyAll-through9–16600 m No published inspection
Watling Lower SchoolPrimary2–9840 m No published inspection
Ardley Hill AcademyPrimary2–11900 m Good (Jul 2024, overall grade under the previous framework)
Manshead Church of England AcademySecondary11–191.2 km Report card (Feb 2026): Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention; Achievement: Needs attention; Attendance and behaviour: Needs attention; Personal development and wellbeing: Expected standard; Inclusion: Needs attention; Leadership and governance: Needs attention; Post-16 provision: Expected standard; Safeguarding standards: Met
St Mary's Catholic Primary School Roman CatholicPrimary2–111.2 km Report card (Jul 2026): Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard; Achievement: Expected standard; Attendance and behaviour: Strong standard; Personal development and wellbeing: Strong standard; Inclusion: Strong standard; Leadership and governance: Strong standard; Early years: Strong standard; Safeguarding standards: Met
Hadrian AcademyPrimary4–111.2 km No published inspection
Dunstable Icknield Lower SchoolPrimary3–91.3 km Requires improvement (Nov 2023, overall grade under the previous framework)
Willow Nursery SchoolNursery2–51.3 km Good (May 2024, overall grade under the previous framework)
The Vale AcademyPrimary2–111.4 km No overall grade (Jun 2025, graded inspection without an overall judgement): Quality of education: Good; Behaviour and attitudes: Good; Personal development: Outstanding; Leadership and management: Good
St Christophers AcademyPrimary2–111.5 km No overall grade (Feb 2025, graded inspection without an overall judgement): Quality of education: Good; Behaviour and attitudes: Good; Personal development: Good; Leadership and management: Good
Queensbury AcademySecondary11–191.5 km No overall grade (Oct 2024, graded inspection without an overall judgement): Quality of education: Requires improvement; Behaviour and attitudes: Requires improvement; Personal development: Good; Leadership and management: Requires improvement

Food hygiene ratings nearby

Source: Food Standards Agency, Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, extract of 1 November 2026. Each rating is shown with the date it was given; a business may have been re-inspected since the extract. Within 500 m of the middle of the street.

BusinessTypeDistanceRatingRated
Downside Pre-school LU5 4ASHospitals/Childcare/Caring Premises420 m5 Very good23 Apr 2025
St Augustine's Academy LU5 4ASSchool/college/university420 m5 Very good5 Jun 2026
Londis (Branss Food & Wine) LU6 3HYRetailers - other440 m5 Very good10 Jun 2025
Downside Supermarket LU5 4APRetailers - other440 m5 Very good13 Oct 2023
Fish Master LU5 4APTakeaway/sandwich shop440 m4 Good25 Jun 2024
Ozzie's Burgers LU5 4JYMobile caterer470 m2 Improvement necessary26 Mar 2025
The Froth 'n' Elbow LU6 3SJPub/bar/nightclub470 m1 Major improvement necessary18 Feb 2025
Tong Wong LU6 3SJTakeaway/sandwich shop470 m5 Very good24 Jul 2025
Angel Convenience Store LU6 3DHRetailers - other490 m5 Very good13 Jul 2023
The Sandwich Bar LU6 3DHTakeaway/sandwich shop490 m4 Good16 Jan 2026
Sweeeeeetz LU5 4APRetailers - other490 m5 Very good20 Mar 2025
Godfrey's LU5 4GTOther catering premises500 m4 Good18 Nov 2025

Crime within 250 m

Source: data.police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026. Police forces move every crime to the nearest of about 760,000 anonymised map points before publishing, so these are crimes near this street, not on it, and a busy point can collect crimes from a wider area. Counts are of records, not convictions.

37 recorded crimes by category
CategoryCrimes
Vehicle crime13
Violence and sexual offences7
Anti-social behaviour5
Other theft4
Criminal damage and arson3
Burglary2
Other crime2
Possession of weapons1

Most of these are attached to: On or near Downs Road (10); On or near Blows Road (8); On or near Half Moon Lane (6); On or near Apollo Close (6); On or near Borough Road (3).

People and work

Source: ONS Census 2021, taken on 21 March 2021, for the 3 Output Areas (small census areas of about 125 households each) that this street's postcodes are in: 1,098 residents in 493 households. The census was taken during a lockdown, so working from home is high and travel to work low compared with now. ONS swaps a few records between neighbouring areas and adds small amounts of noise to counts to protect privacy, so small differences mean little. Industry is not published for areas this small.

Who lives here

Around this streetEngland
Median age4640
Children under 1516%17%
Aged 65 and over23%18%

Homes

Around this streetEngland
Owned (outright or with a mortgage)81%61%
Owned outright48%33%
Shared ownership0%1%
Social rented9%17%
Private rented10%21%

Work and commuting

Around this streetEngland
Adults (16 and over) in work56%57%
Unemployment (of those working or looking for work)4%6%
Retired (of adults)28%22%
Long-term sick or disabled (of adults)5%4%
Work mainly from home (of those in work)31%32%
Travel to work by car or van54%48%
By train, Underground, metro or tram2%4%
By any public transport, including bus5%8%
On foot or by bicycle9%10%
Work within 10 km of home (of those who travel to work)56%65%
Work 30 km or more away12%8%

Education and languages

Around this streetEngland
Degree or other higher qualification, Level 4+ (of adults)30%34%
No qualifications18%18%
Apprenticeship as highest qualification7%5%
Main language English (aged 3 and over)91%91%
Cannot speak English well or at all2%2%

Deprivation

The 2 neighbourhoods around this street are in deciles 6 to 8 of 10 on the English Indices of Deprivation 2025, where 1 is the most deprived tenth of England's 33,755 neighbourhoods and 10 the least.

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), by LSOA (about 1,500 people), through the ONS Postcode Directory. The index combines income, employment, health, education, crime, housing and living environment; it ranks areas against each other and does not describe any one household. Ranks in England and Wales are worked out separately and cannot be compared.

What has changed

Nothing new since the change feed started on 30 October 2026. New sales and energy certificates, and hygiene ratings, school inspections and flood figures nearby, will be listed here as the sources update.

Everything that has changed on and near this street

Postcodes on this street

Source: ONS Postcode Directory August 2026, ONS UPRN Directory September 2026, OS Open Linked Identifiers September 2026. A postcode can cover more than one street; the share shows how many of its addresses are on this one.

  • LU5 4DD: 52 addresses
  • LU5 4DE: 25 addresses of 26 in the postcode
  • LU5 4DA: 1 address of 38 in the postcode
  • LU5 4DQ: 1 address of 18 in the postcode

Nearby streets

Barton Avenue · Half Moon Lane · Blows Road · Apollo Close · Borough Road · Howard Place · Chichester Close · Norcott Close · Ash Grove · Grove Road · Lime Walk · Downs Road

All the streets in LU5 and across Central Bedfordshire.

What this page cannot tell you

  • Whether a particular house is at risk of flooding, subsiding or anything else: the flood map is a model of areas and there is no property-level data here.
  • What a home is worth now: sales are historic prices for the homes that happened to sell.
  • How safe the street is: crime points are moved to anonymised locations and many crimes are never reported.
  • Whether you would get a place at a school: distances are straight lines, not catchments.
  • Who lives on the street now: census figures describe the small areas around it in March 2021, during a lockdown.
  • How long a journey takes or how often anything runs: transport distances are straight lines to the nearest stops.
  • Whether a GP practice is taking new patients, or a dentist new NHS patients.
  • How loud a home is inside, or noise from aircraft, industry or neighbours: noise figures are models of road and rail traffic outside, in England only.

How each figure on this page is matched to the street and worked out: methodology.