Luton airport’s expansion plan has been approved by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander despite a recommendation she reject it.
The Cabinet minister gave the go-ahead to the Bedfordshire airport’s development consent order (DCO) application regardless of advice from the Planning Inspectorate that she should turn it down over environmental concerns.
The project is centred on raising the airport’s cap on annual passenger numbers from 18 million to 32 million by the mid-2040s, allowing its runway to be used for 77,000 more flights per year than it saw in 2024.
Luton was the UK’s fifth busiest airport last year, with 16.9 million passengers travelling on 132,000 flights.
A Government source said: “The Transport Secretary has approved the expansion of Luton airport for its benefits to Luton and the wider UK economy.
“The decision overturns the Planning Inspectorate’s recommendation for refusal.
“Expansion will deliver huge growth benefits for Luton with thousands of good, new jobs and a cash boost for the local council which owns the airport.
“This is the 14th development consent order approved by this Labour Government, demonstrating we will stop at nothing to deliver economic growth and new infrastructure as part of our plan for change.”
DCOs are used to obtain permission for nationally-significant infrastructure projects.
One of the roles of the Planning Inspectorate – an executive agency of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – is to consider applications and make recommendations to the relevant Secretary of State.
Luton airport’s DCO permits up to 209,000 flights per year.
One of the concerns expressed by the examining authority which assessed the application for the Planning Inspectorate was disruption to the “relative tranquillity” of the Chilterns National Landscape.
It is understood the expansion plan would mean a plane flying over the area up to once every 15 minutes, compared with once every half an hour currently.
Expansion would involve increasing the size of its existing terminal and constructing a second terminal.
It would also require extending the Dart rail link to the second terminal, as well as new taxiways – which connect runways to terminals, hangars and other facilities – and parking facilities with access and charges based on a vehicle’s emissions.
Luton Council’s Luton Rising, which owns the airport, says the project is “ready to go”.
The council estimates expansion would support around 12,000 new jobs in the area and provide an additional economic benefit of £1.6 billion per year.
The announcement comes less than a week after Vauxhall’s van-making factory in Luton was closed by parent company Stellantis, putting up to 1,100 jobs at risk.
Campaign group Luton And District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise opposed the expansion application, claiming it would “degrade health and quality of life”, and stating “aircraft noise at night is known to damage health”.
Wigmore Park, which adjoins the airport, would be destroyed as part of the plan.
The airport is proposing to create “replacement open space” to the east, which is “at least 10% bigger” than the existing park.
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