Luton Airport Expansion
Update from LADACAN February 2022
The following is an email from LADACAN (Luton And District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise) dated 11th February 2022
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Dear LADACAN member,
We all need to fight the Development Consent Order proposal from Luton Rising for massive further expansion of Luton Airport. If we don't, we'll lose quality of life in this entire area, and suffer noise blight which will devalue homes and harm lives. And that's to say nothing of the climate change impacts.
The DCO will be assessed by the National Planning Inspectorate because it has such significant potential environmental impacts. Given this government's supportive attitude to aviation, we need to make a very strong case for rejection, and to demonstrate that local people overwhelmingly oppose this plan. This is the suggested approach:
1) Raise awareness
All of us need to understand what's being proposed, to cut through the PR spin and greenwash, and to raise the alarm by letting our local friends and neighbours know what's being proposed and what the impacts would be. You can read their spin at https://lutonrising.org.uk/, and our assessment at www.ladacan.org. Our advice will become more specific as we wade into the thousands of pages of documents, which can be downloaded from here.
Even without doing that, we know for sure that the aircraft noise and the road/rail congestion in 2019 was unbearable, and that was with 18 million passengers. Now they want to grab 14 million more - without achieving the noise mitigations they promised, and without the slightest concern about climate change. All that matters to them is money, money for a Council with an apparently bankrupt idea of what sustainability really means and no vision for economic diversification.
Thanks to some kind volunteers, we'll be raising awareness on social media. We will also be getting placards printed. If you are able to put some up in eye-catching places on your own property (else we get into trouble) let us know - just email Nigel Green <ladacan.nigel@gmail.com> who has very kindly agreed to coordinate.
2) Gather information to respond to consultation
Luton Rising - the new greenwashed name for the old LLAL - is organising roadshows. Dates and times are on their website and ours. We will suggest awkward questions to ask them - they will appear on our website page with the "? ? ?" marks over the next few days. Do go along and make your views known, and let us know how they answer your questions.
We'll also trawl through the documents and the online questionnaire. It's already obvious that some of the questions are deviously worded. So we'll provide some hints on how to avoid the pitfalls and fill in their consultation in the most effective way. As usual, your own words and feelings are best.
3) Fighting back
Hertfordshire County Council will be engaging consultants to review the environmental impacts and claims in detail. LADACAN will take advice from solicitors as needed, and get input from specialists on areas such as the climate change impacts and the bogus claims about jobs. We will also look hard at the noise modelling and the proposed mitigations. If any of you have specialist areas you'd like to drill into in more detail, please do so and let us know what you find.
In the meantime we continue to put pressure on Luton Borough Council - which really ought to heed its own Climate Emergency directive, as well as getting its financial house in order. We're aware that their auditors continue to express significant concern. And we're working with other campaign groups to pressure the DfT to take its responsibilities more seriously when it comes to aircraft noise policy.
So there's a lot going on, and I know we can count on you all to help. Do please raise the alarm with local friends and neighbours, and see if we can boost the number of people who join LADACAN, visit the website, follow us on social media, and take an active part in this fight for our quality of life.
Best wishes,
Andrew, Nigel, Karl, David and Louise
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Copyright © 2022 LADACAN, All rights reserved.
The following information has been provided by St. Albans Quieter Skies (STAQS) following the decision to approve the expansion of the airport on Wednesday 1st December 2021.
Day of Shame
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19 Million Passengers - Planning Permission Granted
On Wednesday evening, Luton Councillors took the decision to put profit ahead of health, the environment and our planet. At the end of a meeting that ran into a second day, the Development Management Committee of Luton Borough Council voted by seven votes to two to approve the application to increase capacity to 19 millions passengers per annum, and permit the associated noise increases.
It is Government policy that airport expansion should go hand in hand with technological improvements that have produced quieter aircraft, so that there is no overall noise increase. Back in 2013, the original planning permission acknowledged this – but said we won’t be able to do it until 2028. Now, the applicant is saying yes, we can still do this – but it won’t be until the 2030’s – and that seems to be an acceptable interpretation of policy!
In a meeting that will have carried a high financial cost to the Council, because of the number of very highly paid consultants brought in to dismiss our efforts to demonstrate errors in the applicants claims. Unfortunately, objectors were given no opportunity to explain why the interpretation being put on the claims made by the applicant in their Environmental Impact Assessment were unsafe, and were told that the extra million passengers could be flown with just 3 extra planes a day!
The technical argument was too specialised for the Councillors to understand the magnitude of the decision expected of them, they were led by their consultants who paid scant attempt to present the issues in a balanced way. One Councillor had to have it explained that an ATM was not a cash machine, but an Air Traffic Movement!
Objectors in the public gallery could be heard shouting “disgraceful” before they were ejected from the chamber. The impacts we were told would be “insignificant”, even though 1,880 more homes in Luton will now qualify for sound insulation grants.
An objector who sits on the Passenger Services sub committee for the airport expressed the view that as Luton Airport already sits at the top of the annual Which report into airport passenger dissatisfaction, he could not see how an extra million passengers could be accommodated through the existing terminal without making the current overcrowding even worse.
The next step has to be to write to Michael Gove, asking that the decision be called-in for review. We can only hope for a fair analysis, but while it is Government policy to permit further airport expansion – despite the climate crisis and all those weaselly words at COP26 – commercial greed will again be at work to influence the outcome.
Along with the other campaign groups, we remain determined to fight on. We will be challening the government to reverse this decision. Many of you might be feeling dejected at this decision, but if we are to protect our environment we must continue to campaign. Next year the airport's owners - Luton Borough Council - will be proposing to increase the capacty to 32 million on more passengers. This is madness that must be stopped.
Finally, thanks to Nigel and Cavan for arguing our case at the meeting, even though it appears some councillors had made up their minds ahead of the meeting.
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