Representation by Lesley Elaine Smart
- Date submitted
- 15 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I object to the proposals to further expand Luton Airport. I already suffer interruption of sleep due to noise pollution from scheduled and delayed flights during the night and early morning, especially in the summer evening heat, when it’s essential to open windows. I have triple glazing, but this is proving inadequate since the current increase to 18million passengers a year, many years ahead of schedule. A further increase to 32 million passengers is unthinkable. The airport will encroach on our village from two directions. We will lose the buffer of Wigmore Park and the site of scientific interest to one side to accommodate increased carparking, and the massive earthworks to expand the apron of an essentially short runway, built on a hill, will bring it closer to the village on the other side. The prevailing wind has shifted, possibly due to climate change, and has been predominantly from the north or northeast in the last 6 months. Many more flights have been taking off over our village, making it impossible to hold a conversation outside and adding to the misery during the day and night. A further increase in flights will be unbearable. I’m very concerned about the impact of flights on climate change and air pollution. This is the time when we should be reducing our carbon footprint, not increasing it with additional flights. The smell and smuts of kerosene are all around. Climate change is happening now, affecting our health and environment directly, I worry for the future of my baby granddaughter. The proposed expansion of the airport will cover a large area with concrete, affecting local drainage. Road access to both ends of the village is often flooded in low lying areas. This is likely to be worse if the expansion goes ahead, due to the increased run off from higher ground. The village has become a rat-run for traffic to and from the A1 and M1, trying to avoid the congestion on the outskirts of Luton. This will only be exacerbated by an increase in journeys to an expanded airport. We will also have to put up with more people abandoning their vehicles in the village, to avoid parking charges, while they go off on holiday. The light pollution from the airport is already a problem and will only worsen with further expansion as the airport authority makes no attempt to mitigate it.