Luton Airport chair: Green targets for expansion ‘not easy’ to meet
Strict green targets for Luton Airport’s expansion plans will “not be easy” to meet, its new chair has said, even as he praised the economic importance of the project.
Ministers rubber-stamped proposals to ramp up capacity at Luton earlier this year, shortly before backing a massive Universal Studios theme park and resort in nearby Bedford.
Lord John Hutton, the former Labour cabinet minister and peer charged with delivering the Luton’s expansion, said the two projects would bring about a “new era of economic prosperity for everyone in the area” and it was “hard to exaggerate” their significance.
“There are tens of thousands of jobs that are going to be created here,” he told City PM. “New jobs,
Luton is one of a host of London airports pressing ahead with plans to dramatically expand passenger numbers over the next few decades.
Traffic in and out of the north east London hub, which is owned by Luton Council through an economic development company, Luton Rising, is expected to rise to 32m per year by 2043 under its plans. Estimates suggest the scheme could create an additional £1.5bn for the economy and up to 11,000 jobs.
Sustainability targets ‘not easy’
Lord Hutton though was candid about the challenges still lying ahead for the project. In particular, he said the “very strict” sustainability requirements of its Development Consent Order (DCO) would be a challenge to meet.
“That’s the nature of the beast in a sense, because we all know we’ve got to try and balance this equation.
“More people want to fly, but we’re all concerned about the net-zero impact of that, and I think the DCO for Luton gives us a really clear mandate for how we can do that. It’s not going to be easy.”
Delivery of the airport’s expansion will need to come alongside a significant increase in those using nearby public transport routes.
“That’s going to be one of the real conserstone commitments,” Hutton said, adding it was part of the “whole push to find a way of expanding London’s airports” sustainably.
“Anyone who has used Luton recently will appreciate the amazing public transport assets we have,” he argued. “As we expand numbers, it’s down to us to encourage passengers to use public transport.”
A final hurdle is renewing the airport’s long-running public-private partnership. Talks are ongoing between management, Luton Airport’s two shareholders AENA and Infrabridge and the local council.
Hutton insisted all the “pieces of the jigsaw” were in place to move forward quickly. “We’ve got the world’s leading airport operators who are well invested and who can take the DCO forward. We’ve got a very ambitious local authority as well.”