On the 08th January 2024, the ‘Politics Home’ website ran an article on its The HOUSE page about the expansion plans of London Luton Airport: https://www.politicshome.com/members/article/london-luton-airport-delivering-futureproof-airport
The House describes itself as part of the fabric of Westminster, written primarily by Parliamentarians, with a cross-party Editorial Board. It states it is closer than any other publication to the most powerful people in UK politics. This article is labelled as having partner content, but reading it, it reeks of the being a creation solely from the PR Department of Luton Borough Council-owned Luton Rising (LR). The article is full of grand statements, the majority of which hold little water when you dig deep into the background.
The opening statement holds the DART (Direct Air Rail Transit) as “proof that is in the pudding”; proof that Luton Rising are capable of now designing and delivering a “future proof” airport expansion project.
But when you actually look at DART, the real picture is rather different, and should ring alarm bells for the residents of Luton, who are the true owners of the airport, or any commercial investors who might be tempted by this spin to invest.
DART was a project not adopted by the current airport operator, London Luton Airport Operations Ltd, when it was drawing up its Project Curium plans to increase the airport passenger throughput to 18 million passengers per annum. Why it was not deemed necessary, is not publicly available, but one can only guest that the costs of the project (£225 million in 2017) and how those costs could be recovered, was a key factor.
The DART replaced a bus scheme run and funded by the train operators, so was of no cost to either the airport operator, or the airport owner. Luton Borough Council, however, thought DART was a good idea, and in 2017 agreed to fund Luton Rising the lending stream of money to build the project. That stream was funded by borrowing themselves from the Public Works Loans Board, and then putting an 8% premium on those loans.
Construction started in 2018, and the DART took its first passengers in March 2023; however, in those five years the project costs ballooned to £313 million, plus interest. What isn’t referenced in this article is that in the Financial Year 2020/2021, the LR Auditors carried out an Impairment Assessment to discover the recoverable value of the DART.
They concluded that over the lifetime of the project, based on construction costs and future revenue projections, there would be a shortfall of £184.7 million. A financially unviable project is supposed to give confidence that LR can be trusted to bring in a multi-Billion pound project on time and crucially on budget – really??
The article trumpets the point that in just over eight months since launch in March 2023, DART carried its 2 millionth passenger. It triumphantly exclaims about how this has reduced carbon emissions associated with the airport, by encouraging more people to travel by public transport. Sadly, however, LR does not provide any evidence as to how many passengers have actually transferred from vehicles to DART?
There is also no mention of the numbers who used the previous bus link over the corresponding period last year, so there is no proof that DART has created any new take up? As the cost of a DART fare is substantially more than the previous bus link, such a comparison would also show whether cost is now a bigger factor in personal choice.
The rest of the article continues the eulogy that LR are going to lead the UK and the world in their sustainable and environmentally binding plans to double the size of London Luton Airport. Luton Rising has no experience in airport operations or development, yet the article states that they are literally going to reinvent airport design/construction and operation, to lead the world into a greener, cleaner sustainable airport operating future.
Looking at what has transpired with DART and looking at the presentation made by LR to the ongoing planning inquiry for the Development Consent Order required for expansion, we are not convinced. What we do see are two projects spectacularly over budget, which have lined the pockets of a phalanx of experts and consultants, and diverted that same money from the needy of Luton who could really use it right now.
DART, “proof of the pudding” that LR can deliver?
Anyone for more cold semolina?
Stop Luton Airport Expansion -NOW