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CAMPAIGNERS slammed the government’s decision to approve Luton airport’s expansion plan today.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander gave the go-ahead to the airport’s development consent order (DCO) application, ignoring advice from the Planning Inspectorate that she should turn it down over environmental concerns.
The project aims to raise the airport’s cap on annual passenger numbers from 18 million to 32 million by the mid-2040s. The expansion would increase its existing terminal and see the construction of a second terminal.
Wigmore Park, which adjoins the airport, would be destroyed as part of the plan.
The local council estimates it would provide economic benefits worth £1.6 billion per year.
Green Alliance senior policy adviser Johann Beckford said: “Doubling passenger and flight numbers will increase emissions, air pollution and noise.
“This latest misguided project does more to undermine UK climate credibility than it does to expand the economy as, once again, the growth impact of the expansion is likely to be overstated.
“With almost 90 per cent of Luton flights taken for leisure, this decision gives priority boarding to British tourists taking their money out of the country to spend abroad.”
