“This expansion is simply unconscionable given the threats to our planet and people.”
Daisy Cooper, the MP for St Albans, has written to the boss of Luton Airport to object to proposals by the operating company, Luton Rising, to increase passenger numbers to 32 million a year – citing the impact on climate change and public health.
Her opposition to the plans, which came at the end of a public consultation by Luton Rising, also coincided just two days later, on 6 April, with notification by the Secretary of State that an outstanding planning application to increase passenger numbers to 19 million was being ‘called-in’ for review by central government.
Daisy campaigned for more than a year for a public inquiry into the earlier proposal, including leading a debate in the House of Commons supported by Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire, and Bim Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden.
At the time, Daisy also raised the “real or perceived conflict of interest” at the heart of the expansion plans whereby Luton Borough Council owns the airport, which is run at arms’ length by Luton Rising, yet is also the authority responsible for making impartial judgments on planning and enforcement.
In her letter to Graham Oliver, chief executive of Luton Rising, objecting to the latest proposals to increase passenger numbers again to 32 million, Daisy said:
“Fundamentally, I oppose any further expansion of aviation capacity on the grounds that the Committee on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change both strongly recommend urgent measures to reduce demand for air travel.”
Emissions from aviation are growing at a faster rate than any other mode of transport, she pointed out, adding:
“This expansion is simply unconscionable given the threats to our planet and people, and I urge you in the strongest possible terms to abandon these plans.”
Daisy also highlighted the negative health effects of aircraft noise, including high blood pressure, strokes and heart attacks, and the increased likelihood of road and occupational accidents in areas of high night-time aircraft noise.
“At a bare minimum, no expansion at all should be allowed until and unless promises on noise reduction are fulfilled, and a demonstrably independent body is established to monitor and report on air noise targets,” she said.
Daisy also criticised the draft Green Controlled Growth (GCG) proposals that Luton Rising included in the recent public consultation, calling it “meaningless for the purposes of this consultation, as it avoids committing to binding targets for the reduction of noise pollution, improvements in air quality, the reduction of carbon emissions or surface access pollution and congestion.”.
She has since said that the calling-in of the application is a “welcome step forward” but that there’s still campaigning to be done.