As we were finishing up the previous article, we became aware of the following link:-
Of all the Councils who received authority for a Capitalisation Direction, only the one concerning Luton Borough Council was posted on this publicly accessible government site. You can now see the level of scrutiny that MHCLG are giving the Luton finances, and how they see the link between Council and airport owning company as a serious bone of contention, and the need to reduce that financial exposure.
We, and our fellow anti-expansion groups, have been in regular correspondence with both this Ministry, and the Department of Transport over the past year to highlight how if such high levels of debt in such very limited and speculative projects had not been undertaken by LBC/LLAL, those funds could have been bolstering Luton’s reserves. We have highlighted that unless financial aid packages were ring fenced from airport related projects, those funding packages would be at risk the longer the current aviation crisis continues, and the more support LLAL needs.
Were we listened to? We will never know.
Do we want the credit? No, we just want to stop airport expansion outside the airports current footprint. We want the current operations to show they have a respect for the amenity and quality of life for all those affected by airport operations, and not just a pursuit of commercial gain, and to abide by their planning conditions, not seek to break and ignore them.
We want airport concession income to be spent on the people and services of Luton and surrounding affected areas where appropriate, rather than being spent on schemes to benefit the airlines and passengers who use it.