Luton’s lousy location

The Airport is on top of a hill and deeply embedded in the modern Town – the Town grew round it. We have yet to find another significant airport in the UK whose runway is less than a mile from the centre of a major town and whose flight path passes barely a kilometre from the centre.

The most troublesome result of this is that the aircraft flying over a large part of south Luton impose much higher noise levels on people living beneath than elsewhere, a situation which will be much worse if NATS’ plan to re-route westerly departures is implemented. To the east, the village of Breachwood Green experiences similar noise levels. Several schools are badly affected - not much help for proper learning or attention span.

The Airport is also ringed by a significant number of large towns: Hitchin, Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, St Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Harpenden, Berkhamsted and Leighton Buzzard, all within 10 miles. The potential for noise disturbance is huge as well over 200,000 people live directly beneath the flight paths.

It is perched on top of a hill and so is visible and audible for miles around in the countryside - easyJet’s orange hangar is a particular blot on the landscape.

This hilly terrain and the proximity of the Town cause severe barriers to improving the local road system both for access to the Airport and the rest of east Luton. Furthermore, the risk of air crash at the west end of the runway puts users of the A505/A1081 in unacceptable jeopardy where the road passes the runway end - the aircraft which crashed at Heathrow on 17 January 2008 would have hit this road had it crashed here.

Public transport provision is also restricted by the location, despite the proximity of a major rail line. – the cost of a direct link to the terminals would be prohibitive and the route once reserved for a dedicated shuttle between station and terminal has been taken by the new road being built.

Luton & District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise - site updated 03 February, 2010