Friday May 10th, saw the end of the Recommendation Stage of the planning process, and the delivery of the Examiners report to the Secretary of State for Transport, Mr Mark Harper.
This means we are now into the Decision Stage.
This is when the Department of Transport (DfT) reviews the Examiners decision, and how it fits with National Policy on airport expansion, and climate change targets, both nationally and globally.
The DfT have three months to make that decision, so around the 10th August. When that decision is announced, the reasoning behind it, and the full Examiners’ Report will be made publicly available on the Planning Inspectorate website.
We have been asked if Luton Rising, the applicant, will have been given access to the Examiners Report now it is with the DfT. The answer to that is no; both they and the opposition groups have to await the Final Decision.
After the Final Decision, there is one final phase of six weeks, when either the applicant or opposition groups can mount a legal challenge, under a Judicial Review. The costs of such a review are eye wateringly huge, and unless a well-funded White Knight rides over the horizon, it is highly unlikely any we or any of our sister opposition groups would be able to mount such a challenge.
As for the Local Authorities who have all opposed the application, the same would apply to them, as they would have to use public money, diverted from service budgets. Their moral obligation is to their residents’ best interests, and whilst they are/will be massively impacted by current airport operations and expansion, reality and responsibility must come first.
Should the DfT reject the expansion however, we know that Luton Rising will definitely launch a review. The costs involved would just be added to the debt mountain, and more money borrowed from their sole shareholder, Luton Borough Council. The debts are now at a level that airport growth is the only way to save Luton Rising, and indeed Luton Borough Council, from financial Armageddon.
Yes, Dear Reader, of course as a Local Authority -just like those surrounding Luton Airport-Luton Borough Council’s first and only priority should be the same moral and legal obligations to put the residents of Luton first.
Sadly, those obligations have long been forgotten by those who should know better at the top of Luton Borough Council and Luton Rising.