Airport expansion plans will ‘blight’ parts of Luton campaigners claim after packed public meeting

Plans to expand Luton Airport will blight the east of the town, protestors to the scheme have claimed.

Around 100 people turned out to a public meeting on April 11 to show the strength of their opposition to the Luton airport expansion.

The meeting, in Wigmore, had been called by the Stop Luton Airport Expansion group (SLAE) who gave an update on progress of the plans by Luton Rising (the name for Luton’s airport company, owned by Luton Borough Council). The plans propose almost doubling the number of airport passengers and will now be considered under a Development Consent Order (DCO).

In a statement the SLAE said: “The DCO plans mean that many local homes would be blighted. Speakers at the meeting told people how they could register their interest and show opposition. Residents also heard how the area would suffer from very heavy traffic on local roads, plus up to nine sets of new traffic lights.

“The much used and loved Wigmore Valley Park would be bulldozed and covered by a new airport terminal and car parks. The park has won two Fields in Trust awards as one of the best parks in the Eastern region. To replace this valuable park (a County Wildlife Site), a “new” park would be created on sterile farmland in Hertfordshire. The huge variety of existing mature flora and fauna and hundreds of trees in Wigmore Valley Park would disappear for ever. Access to the new park would be via a small green corridor surrounded by warehousing and airport car parking.

“Residents were also informed of the plans to replace every roundabout currently in the Wigmore/Vauxhall Park areas with traffic lights. A huge access road to terminal 2 would also be constructed. Stationary traffic and increased air and noise pollution from those vehicles would dramatically increase health problems for local residents.”

Graham Olver, Chief Executive Officer of Luton Rising, said: “The sustainable long-term growth of our airport, and everything we do, is aimed at driving the local and regional economy.

“We are equally serious about doing this in the right way, developing industry-leading proposals for Green Controlled Growth that for the first time in the UK guarantee independently-monitored limits for environmental impacts.

“Our response to the impacts on residents living nearby includes the most generous and comprehensive noise insulation proposals for any UK airport and a residential hardship scheme in which we will offer to buy qualifying properties where they cannot be sold on the open market because of the expansion.

“Claims about stationary traffic, increased air pollution and increased noise are not generally borne out by our traffic modelling and environmental assessments.

“Any suggestion that the whole of Wigmore Park would be lost would be untrue. We have been absolutely clear that our proposal requires a part of the park, which will be replaced by a bigger area further away from the runway and which supports better access for all users.”

Luton Rising’s application for a Development Consent Order was accepted for examination by the Planning Inspectorate on March 27.

The proposals have been shaped by more than 8,000 responses to consultations undertaken in 2018, 2019 and 2022.

The application documents can be seen in detail on the PINS website.