Residents in Luton, Bedfordshire, can share their views this month on plans that could bring a new cancer treatment unit to the town. The Mount Vernon Cancer Centre Review consultation portal is holding public meetings on 10 February 2026 and 21 February 2026 to discuss proposals to relocate the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre and to consider a local radiotherapy site.
Health officials from NHS England want to move the main specialist services from their current home in Northwood to a new facility at Watford General Hospital. The scheme’s capital costs have been reported in project materials and local coverage as being in the hundreds of millions of pounds (project materials and local reporting reference bids in the region of ~£260m); NHS England’s consultation materials describe this as a capital-funded re‑provision proposal. The current Mount Vernon buildings are over 100 years old and the estate is described in official review papers as not fit for modern cancer care; some of the older buildings contain asbestos, which the trust says is managed and regularly monitored, and the overall condition makes it difficult to provide modern, acute‑hospital‑adjacent cancer services.
A key part of the proposals involves deciding where to locate a second, smaller radiotherapy unit to help patients who live further away. BBC News and the MVCC consultation materials say the options under consideration for that satellite radiotherapy unit are the Luton and Dunstable Hospital or Lister Hospital in Stevenage.
The choice will directly affect how far local people have to travel for daily treatment sessions. A briefing provided to Luton councillors and broader public engagement documentation summarise local patient concerns about travel burdens and make clear the consultation meetings are an opportunity for residents to explain how travel distances and transport access affect their care.
The public consultation is open until 29 March 2026 and includes both online and in‑person events for those who cannot attend locally. People wishing to attend the Luton events are asked to register in advance via the project website, which lists event details and sign‑up instructions.
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