Despite this Planning Application being passed at The Luton Borough Council (LBC) Development Control Committee in March 2019, due to various issues, predominately with the Section 106 Agreement, it has taken until the 29th June 2021, to actually sign the Planning Permission Notice. This means that construction works will have until June 2024 to be started, or the approval will cease to be valid.
What this also means that the application can still be challenged under Judicial Review, up until the 10th August.
We have mentioned previously, the many issues we feel are pertinent to such a review. We draw your attention to the fact this road will be the deliverer of airport expansion into Terminal 2, but was not included in the original Development Consent Order plans, as it was supposed to have existed by the time that was started. In fact, we have reported that it will now be included in the rewritten development plans, as LBC could not raise enough interest from the various Local Government groups who invest in such projects, as it was only viable with airport expansion.
Since its original inception, the price tag for this four-lane carriageway has been variously stated between £90 and £140 million. LBC were happy at the original price, to sanction £4 million of local budget cuts each year, just to pay the interest on the loan, such was their haste to see it built. We’ve known all along that LBC plan to recoup the costs of all of their London Luton Airport Ltd projects, from the next concessionaire agreement set for 2031. If they were to shackle the residents of Luton with the debts for this road in advance, they believe it would make that reckless scheme more attractive.
With the advent of Covid-19 publically exposing the huge flaws in the funding initiatives between LBC and LLAL, the real possibility that these debts could well mean a part or complete sale of the airport, and the uncertainty going forward on UK wide airport expansions to meet climate change targets. We now feel that due to these changes there is the opportunity for a Judicial Review to be launched.
If you feel that this is the route to follow, please pass on your thoughts, advice and any knowledge on that pathway to us at friends_of_wigmore_park@btinternet.com