The Department of Transport (DfT) announced last week that their decision on the Luton Rising (LR) Development Consent Order (DCO), originally due last July, has been delayed for the second time.
They now have a decision date of January 3rd 2025.
Once again, this is to allow LR to submit further information on the application.
We find this baffling, as what is now being presented could bear little resemblance to the detail that the Inspectors made their decision on. Will those Inspectors be adjudicating on this rewritten data, or will it be down to the Minister, and the DfT?
Six extra months, and two further update opportunities – just how many chances does LR get to put right, what they failed to do first time around?
Let us not forget that all these rewrites cost money, and that money adds to the eye watering costs of the DCO, all of which now won’t find its way into public funds, where it is badly needed.
It’s like doing an exam, failing abjectly, and then being told not to worry, you can do it again because now you know the answers, and you are guaranteed to pass!
When a decision is made, any objectors have six weeks to launch a Judicial Review.
Bearing in mind the two extensions LR have received, we feel that extending that review period by the same factor, so eighteen weeks rather than the six would be in order? Though we will of course not hold our breath on that happening.
If the DCO was as good as LR have continually trumpeted, why have they needed six more months to prove that?
One final point, the UK Parliament is on Christmas recess from 19th December to 6th January 2025. So it’ll either be an early announcement, or yet another delay, but what is three days when it’s already six months late?