Luton Airport expansion plans for 32 million passengers, up from 18 million, submitted
Luton Rising, the Luton Council company that owns London Luton Airport, has submitted its application for expansion. The Development Consent Order (DCO) application comprises 198 documents, with over 25,000 detailed pages of proposals and plans. It seeks consent to expand the airport from its current permitted cap of 18 million passengers per annum (mppa) to 32 mppa, including new terminal capacity; earthworks to create an extension to the current airfield platform; new airside and landside facilities; enhancement of the surface access network; extension of the Luton DART; landscaping and ecological improvements; and further infrastructure enhancements and initiatives to support the target of achieving zero-emission ground operations by 2040. Andrew Lambourne, speaking for anti-noise campaign group LADACAN, said the proposal “would create noise blight across north Hertfordshire, with flights increasingly starting at five in the morning and running on into the early hours, keeping thousands more people awake at night. The harms outweigh any possible benefits.”
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Luton Airport expansion plans for 32 million passengers submitted
28.2.2023
(BBC)
Plans to expand London Luton Airport and increase passenger numbers from 18 million to 32 million a year have been submitted.
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”.
An application for a development consent order has been submitted to the government’s Planning Inspectorate.
The expansion plans include new terminal capacity, an extension to the current airfield platform and new airside and landside facilities.
Passengers are due to start using the new DART airport shuttle service in March
A council spokesman 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 able to invest an extra £1 into local communities, helping to tackle deprivation.”
‘Harm outweighs benefits’
However, Andrew Lambourne, a spokesman for local 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.
“As for the wider area, this proposal would create noise blight across north Hertfordshire, with flights increasingly starting at five in the morning and running on into the early hours, keeping thousands more people awake at night.
“The harms outweigh any possible benefits.”
Following the submission of the airport expansion application, the Planning Inspectorate, on behalf of the transport secretary, will have a 28-day period to decide whether or not the application meets the standards required to be accepted for examination, or if further documentation is needed.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-64801427
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Luton Airport submits ambitions plans to help with growth – increasing from 18million passengers a year to 32million
Luton Rising set to submit application to the Planning Inspectorate today
By Lynn Hughes (Luton Today)
28th Feb 2023, 10:07am
Luton Rising, the Luton Council company that owns London Luton Airport, is today set to submit its application for the airport’s long-term sustainable growth to the Planning Inspectorate today.
The plans include community funding proposals that they say could provide an additional £14m every year for communities across Luton and neighbouring areas, and would support the company’s wider ambition of making London Luton Airport a leader in sustainable aviation.
But a campaign group says councillors have “lost sight of the need for prudence” – and claims interest payments on its £500m airport loans will “soak up” much of the airport’s future revenue.
The Development Consent Order (DCO) application comprises 198 documents, containing just over 25,000 detailed pages of proposals and plans.
It seeks consent to expand the airport from its current permitted cap of 18 million passengers per annum (mppa) to 32 mppa, including new terminal capacity; earthworks to create an extension to the current airfield platform; new airside and landside facilities; enhancement of the surface access network; extension of the Luton DART; landscaping and ecological improvements; and further infrastructure enhancements and initiatives to support the target of achieving zero-emission ground operations by 2040.
The proposals have been shaped by more than four years of consultation and assessments, with consultation exercises in 2018, 2019 and 2022. In total, more than 8,000 responses were received.
The submission documents include a strategy that seeks to set binding and independently-monitored environmental limits for carbon, air quality, noise, and surface access and includes improved noise insulation plans, and a consultation report which outlines how comments received have been considered and responded to.
But Andrew Lambourne, speaking for anti-noise campaign group 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. Having run up half a billion pounds of debt on vanity projects such as the DART, the interest payments alone will soak up much of the future revenue from the airport.
“As for the wider area, this proposal would create noise blight across north Hertfordshire, with flights increasingly starting at five in the morning and running on into the early hours, keeping thousands more people awake at night. The harms outweigh any possible benefits.”
Submission of the application marks the start of the ‘acceptance’ stage of the DCO process.
There will follow a 28-day period for the Planning Inspectorate, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport, to decide whether or not the application meets the standards required to be accepted for examination, or if further documentation is needed.
Graham Olver, Chief Executive Officer of Luton Rising, said: “We’re pleased to bring forward these proposals for the expansion of London Luton Airport – we aim to enhance economic activity in and around Luton, provide numerous community benefits, and make the airport a leader in sustainable aviation.
“We have certainly endeavoured to do everything we can to deliver an achievable, detailed and evidence-based application that will meet the Inspectorate’s requirements. We hope that this will mark the start of the next phase of our commitment to grow London Luton Airport and help to deliver the employment, prosperity and positive social impact for Luton and neighbouring communities that they so richly deserve.”
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See earlier:
Luton Airport owner (part of Luton Council) delays DCO plans for expansion to 32mppa
Earlier this year, Luton Rising – a Luton Council subsidiary that owns the airport – consulted on revised expansion proposals that would eventually increase the airport’s annual passenger capacity from 18 million to 32 million. Luton Rising has now delayed the submission of its £1.5bn expansion plans. The necessary Development Consent Order (DCO) application for a second airport terminal was due to be submitted by the end of 2022. But Construction News has learned that the application has been pushed back to 2023. The plans consist of two phases, with the first expanding the existing terminal to 21.5 million ann ual passengers, and the second building a new terminal. This second phase is itself split into two parts, with the new terminal boosting capacity to 27M per year and further expansion later increasing it to 32M. It is thought that, if approved, construction would not begin until at least 2025. Consultation documents state that delivering the project would take up to 20 years, “during which there will be periods of construction activity and others with no activity”. A previous statutory consultation was held in 2019, but the airport struggled financially due to Covid, and forcing it to borrow several hundred £million from Luton council.
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