Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise

6th March

Also see the Wheathampstead campaign and Herts Against Luton Expansion web sites

Join LADACAN now - click here

Objection deadline now passed but . . .

The deadline for public objections to the planning application to expand Luton Airport to 18 million passengers a year was Monday 18th February but objections can be sent in any time before the plan is considered by the Council’s Development Control Committee.

Objections can be submitted through the Council’s public access planning web site or under the reference 12/01400/FUL or by email quoting this reference.

Our recommendation for a simple objection is:

“a) the proposal is in conflict with the Council’s noise policy for the Airport; and

b) the proposal fails to establish a balance between economic benefit and environmental cost as required by emerging national aviation policy”

To view the plans, go to the Council’s public access planning web site or under the reference 12/01400/FUL. When you find the application, look at “Associated documents”. There are a lot of them but many are just drawings of the proposed building work - the key documents for the communities around the Airport are the 82 making up the Environmental Statement (ES). The non-technical summary of the ES, is also available from Terence O'Rourke Ltd at the address below as a separately bound document:

Ann Bartaby, Terence O'Rourke Ltd, Everdene House, Deansleigh Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH7 7DU; email maildesk@torltd.co.uk

Copies of the ES (paper copy or DVD) and any further information about the project may be obtained during the consultation period at a reasonable charge to reflect printing, production and distribution costs (£200 for a paper copy and £10 for a CD copy), by contacting Terence O'Rourke Ltd at the address above.

Campaign against night flights

The proposed expansion would almost double night flights and there are no controls on night flying at Luton. LADACAN is supporting a petition and campaign against night flights at Luton. Please join us.

LADACAN objections lodged

LADACAN has now lodged its full objections to the Airport expansion planning application with planning authority, Luton Borough Council. Our cover letter gives an overview of the objections and is supported by 7 more detailed documents on noise, planning and aviation policy, public safety, the 2001 Development Brief, employment and economics, mitigation proposals and the case for determination of the application by the Government.

Jobs claims rubbished

Our analysis of the extravagant claims of new jobs made in support of the planning application shows that they have been exaggerated around five-fold. The statistical model which was used to forecast employment growth fails completely to fit the historic data on which it was supposedly based - see our report submitted with our objections to the planning application.

Petition to have application “called in”

With other organisations and Councils, LADACAN’s first priority has been to ensure that Luton Borough Council does not approve what is, in effect, its own planning application for its own Airport. The Comet newspaper has set up a petition on the Government’s web site to have the application called in to a public inquiry.