Why Luton Airport Expansion should be stopped
Luton airport is looking to increase the airport’s capacity from 18 million passengers per year to 32 million. The Secretary of State will make a decision on this expansion by 4th October 2024.
Stop Luton Airport Expansion have highlighted the following as key reasons why the proposed development must not go ahead:
- Luton and the surrounding countryside would see a significant increase in both noise and air pollution.
- Expansion would see the destruction of vital local green space and the felling of hundreds of trees that currently improve local air quality and absorb pollution from the surrounding area.
- Local residents do not wish to lose a well-loved park to airport buildings and proposed airport infrastructure.
- Luton is already the 4th most congested town or city in the UK, only London, Birmingham and Manchester are worse. Luton’s roads simply cannot cope with the additional increases in traffic that a second terminal would bring.
- The new DART link will do little to alleviate the problem of congestion, plus there are no guarantees that people will use it.
- Local air quality will be severely affected by a rise in air pollution, increasing the likelihood of long term health problems such as chronic respiratory diseases, lung cancer and heart disease.
- The proposed site for airport expansion risks disturbing old landfill that is currently contained under Wigmore Valley Park. Its disturbance could cause the release of harmful materials in to the local water supply and surrounding area.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said we have only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a minimum. This means we have a duty to our children to stop the increase in flights and aircraft emissions.
Image source: Jonathan Dann, Luton Airport Parkway DART, 2023