Just another quick update: we’re in the lull before the storm whilst awaiting next steps from the Planning Inspectorate.
Planning Inquiry into 19 million passengers
The likelihood is that the Inspectors have completed their report on last Autumn’s Inquiry and sent it to the Secretaries of State. Apparently the parties involved don’t get a copy of it at this stage. I’ve asked for definite confirmation that the report is now with the Secretaries of State, but not had any reply. Quite how ‘Transport’ and ‘Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ will reach a joint decision is also unclear.
Either way, the Inquiry established beyond doubt that LLAOL had expanded too rapidly and the breach of noise limits was no accident. We also established that they had been incentivised to do this by Luton Rising. And we established that their noise data measurement and analysis was faulty, their jobs figures contrived, their aviation forecasts unable to withstand scrutiny, their surface transport assertions laughable, and their expansion plans overwhelmingly rejected by overflown residents. All these weaknesses can be exploited in our responses to the 32 million application.
32 million passenger DCO application
We’re currently waiting for the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) to release details of how people and groups can register online as ‘Interested Parties’ if they wish to submit written responses and, potentially, to provide oral evidence. You can sign up for email updates via the Luton Airport Expansion page on the PINS website, filling in your email address under “Email updates” and clicking “Sign Up”. The page is at: London Luton Airport Expansion | National Infrastructure Planning (planninginspectorate.gov.uk)
Once registration opens, people and groups can register by providing a summary of their submissions. In due course there will be a Preliminary Meeting to hear more about how the process will be organised and when more detailed evidence can be submitted.
For now, I’d suggest having a look at the short videos created by PINS (see Understanding the Development Consent Order process on our website). If you do want to research and provide input on a particular topic, now is the time to become familiar with the documents. Details of how to find them and where to start are at Current stage: review of the application documents on our website also.
We have contacted the New Economics Foundation and the Aviation Environment Federation to provide updates to the previous objections which we commissioned from them.