Luton Airport expansion plans to be examined by the Planning…
The government has agreed that the Planning Inspectorate (PI) will examine proposals from “Luton Rising”, the Luton Council company that owns the airport, to expand Luton Airport from 18 million to 32 million passengers per year. The council makes the usual claims about more employment and great economic benefits for the area. The PI has six months to examine the plans. The transport secretary [Mark Harper, since October 2022] will then decide whether to grant development consent. The expansion plans include new terminal capacity, some runway changes, and new airside and landside facilities. A council spokesperson said that, “for every additional passenger above the airport’s current capacity, it will be able to invest an extra £1 into local communities, helping to tackle deprivation.” Really? Andrew Lambourne, a spokesman for protest group Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (LADACAN), said: “It’s tragic that the councillors who run Luton Rising have been so obsessed with growing the airport they appear to have lost sight of the need for prudence” Campaigners said the expansion plans would “create noise blight” across the area. Local MP for Hitchin, Bim Afolami, is strongly against the expansion, due to the additional noise burden it would bring. .Tweet Local group, LADACAN https://ladacan.org/ Luton Airport expansion plans to be examined by the government 28.3.2023 BBC Campaigners said the expansion plans would “create noise blight” across the area. The government has agreed to examine proposals to expand Luton Airport that would see passenger numbers increase from 18 million to 32 million a year. Luton Rising, the Luton Council company that owns the airport, said it could generate £1.5bn per year and create thousands of new jobs. But anti-noise campaigners have called the expansion plans “tragic”. The government’s Planning Inspectorate has six months to examine the plans. The transport secretary [Mark Harper, since October 2022] will then decide whether to grant development consent. The expansion plans include new terminal capacity, an extension to the current airfield platform and new airside and landside facilities. The council said the expansion would provide additional funding for local communities. A council spokesman previously said the airport was “one of the largest employers in the area, contributing enormously to the region’s economic vibrancy on an annual basis, whilst itself increasing significantly in value as an asset in its own right through successive tranches of investment”. “We anticipate it will provide an additional £14m each year for communities in Luton and the surrounding areas,” he said. “For every additional passenger above the airport’s current capacity, it will be abl
