On December 17th, the Department of Transport advised that the decision on this Order will be delayed for a third time, the reason for this was as follows;
The Examining Authority’s report on the London Luton Airport Development Consent Order application was received on 10 May 2024. The current deadline for a decision is 3 January 2025, having been extended by way of written Ministerial Statements from the original deadline of 10 August 2024. The deadline for the decision is to be further extended to 3 April 2025 (an extension of 3 months). The reason for the extension is to allow the newly appointed Secretary of State appropriate time to fully consider this complex application before making a final determination. The Department will, however, endeavour to issue a decision ahead of the deadline above where possible.
The decision to set a new deadline is without prejudice to the final decision on whether to give Development Consent for the above application.
This will bring the delay on a decision on the application to 9 months, and of course over both Conservative and Labour Governments.
Why a decision could not be made in that time is baffling, if the plans are as watertight environmentally, financially, and sustainably as Luton Rising have maintained, surely a decision should have arrived by now?