North Herts Council unanimously opposes Luton airport expansion

At a meeting on Thursday (September 19), they voted in favour of requiring council leader Daniel Allen to write to the area’s MPs and to transport secretary Louise Haigh, expressing the “strongest possible” opposition to the expansion plans.

Councillors are concerned the expansion would lead to increased traffic and noise pollution in North Herts, with issues about the environmental impact of the potential expansion also raised.

A sign advertising the Luton Airport Development Consent Order (DCO) hearing at Venue 360, Luton. (Image: Will Durrant, LDRs) Earlier this month, the government delayed a decision on whether to grant a development consent order (DCO) for the £2.4bn expansion until January 2025.

It has been put forward by Luton Rising, the Luton Borough Council company that owns the airport.

Conservative group leader Cllr Ralph Muncer said he proposed the council motion to get “clarity” on the views of the area’s new Labour MPs – Alistair Strathern, Chris Hinchliff and Kevin Bonavia – and see whether they would “stand up for local residents in North Hertfordshire”.

Conservative leader in North Herts, Cllr Ralph Muncer (Image: Courtesy of Cllr Ralph Muncer) Last month, the Labour government approved London City airport’s planned expansion from 6.5 million to 9 million passengers per year, and Cllr Muncer said its “views on airport expansion appear to be very different” to those of the previous Conservative government.

Mr Strathern, Hitchin’s MP, has previously told the Comet he “echoes” the concerns raised by North Herts Council “on the impact that expanding Luton airport could have on our local environment, including noise, traffic and air pollution”.

He said he would always put his country and area “first” and party “second”.

MP for Hitchin Alistair Strathern (Image: Joe Giddens/PA Wire) But Cllr Claire Strong described Mr Strathern’s views as “wishy-washy”, and Cllr Muncer said the MP’s position “isn’t exactly clear”.

Cllr Collins suggested Mr Strathern’s views represented a refusal “to commit to objecting to Luton Airport expansion”.

Cllr Strong said Chris Hinchliff – who was a councillor during the previous vote in January – told her he remained against expansion, and that Kevin Bonavia had said he would “be supporting” the council.

A spokesperson for Chris Hinchliff told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the MP has written to Louise Haigh to “express his opposition to the proposal and his support for the arguments laid out by North Herts Council … as to why the application should be rejected.

MP for North East Hertfordshire, Chris Hinchliff (Image: The Labour Party) Mr Bonavia said he “shares” the concerns raised by North Herts Council and Stevenage Borough Council about the “impact” of the proposed expansion, “especially around noise pollution and air quality for local residents”.

He said: “I am committed to listening to the views of constituents affected by these proposals and engaging with elected representatives from all parties across our North Herts villages and Stevenage.”

MP for Stevenage, Kevin Bonavia (Image: UK Parliament) Bim Afolami, Conservative MP for Hitchin until this year’s general election, opposed the expansion of Luton airport.

But Labour leader of the council, Cllr Daniel Allen, pointed out a previous expansion of Luton airport by 1m passengers per year had been approved by Michael Gove.

Cllr Allen said: “We, as North Herts Council, have constantly opposed the Luton airport expansion. It flies in the face of public opinion, and we definitely do not approve of it.”

His views were echoed by fellow Labour councillor Elizabeth Dennis. She said the authority needed to continue opposing the DCO, and should work with North Herts’ MPs to “ensure that the concerns … raised here multiple times are heard”.

Labour Cllr Elizabeth Dennis (Image: Rebecca Stewart) Cllr Dennis added that the application process had become “protracted”, and said: “No more kicking it into the long grass … let’s just have the decision, let’s give people the certainty so that we can all finally move on and get on with the good work that we should be doing.”

Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the council, Cllr Ruth Brown, said she also opposed the expansion: “We should not be expanding short-haul airports, we should be investing in rail.

“Luton is mainly a short-haul airport. I don’t think there’s any justification for flying from London Luton to Amsterdam, Paris or Brussels.

“I think we should be expanding the Eurostar services to enable people to do that quickly, efficiently [and] sustainably.”

Paul Kehoe, chair of Luton Rising, has said expansion would make “best use of the airport’s existing runway and assets and play a crucial role in stimulating regional economic growth by enhancing trade, attracting investment and boosting tourism – generating an additional £1.5bn in economic activity every year by the mid-2040s”.

Alistair Strathern was contacted for comment on this story.