Back to list London Luton Airport Expansion

Representation by Sidney Colin Garnett

Date submitted
18 June 2023
Submitted by
Members of the public/businesses
  1. We had to move from Caddington for health reasons, after having planned it to be our forever home. We moved to Caddington in 2014 and we spent a lot of money to make it comfortable and to enjoy our retirement. We had built a new front porch and conservatory. We had it rewired, replaced the boiler, new kitchen and redecorated throughout, we had made good friends. We should say at this point we looked at the house four times before deciding to buy it, unfortunately we viewed in late September when the prevailing wind was not at the time when there were overflying planes. We sold the property in November 2019 with the then planning application being proposed by Luton Rising ,we had to sell at a loss . The approach over Caddington was for approximately one third of the year which was summer time. Aircraft were landing day and night with a frequency sometimes of less than two minutes, we had to keep the windows shut because of the noise, inevitably we were too hot the only way we could sleep was with a large fan in the room (2019 broke temperature records), we were unable to rest during the day, we could not enjoy our garden or local walks, there was oily film over everything and smuts of dirt on the washing. We increasingly found traffic on the roads even finding cars parked outside our house for the duration of the owner’s holiday. (It’s cheaper to do this and get a taxi than park at the airport) LLAL[Luton Rising] held a consultation in the Social Club in 2019, every time an aircraft came over to land, the consultants had to pause as it was impossible to hear them ,the consultant we were talking to commented on the fact and that’s what we had to live with. From their consultant we learn that the main noise from a landing aircraft is the airframe with flaps deployed and not the engines. The elevation of the village Church is 583 feet above sea level and approximately 48.5 feet higher than the runway therefore the planes are closer to the ground. Caddington is the one location that we can speak about but other towns and villages suffer to a similar or greater degree. From LLA Community Noise Monitoring Reports for a period from2016 to 2022. A mobile monitoring station was located only once in 2019 near the main village of Caddington in a valley with a claim that the village is 528 feet above sea level actually 55 feet lower than the main habitation. The monitor was sited 165mtrs north of centre line for some reason with the majority of flights 154mtrs south of the centre line at a height between 1000 and 1499 feet and the average height 1473 feet. Therefore using their data the average height above Caddington would be only 935 feet but with some only 417 feet. Can we point out that Caddington does not qualify for any noise insulation grants 2. Infrastructure Roads from the East are narrow country lanes and urban roads, they are not suitable for the volume of traffic. The main route from North, South & West would be the M1 which is at full capacity in the morning & evening rush. The A6 runs through the middle of Luton and Harpenden to the south both with traffic problems now. The infrastructure in the area cannot cope. With their proposed increase in passenger numbers and local improvements to some roads will not solve the problem. 3. Environment. a. We all need to reduce our carbon footprint; the world has used vast amounts of fossil fuels since the start of the industrial revolution that have taken millennia to form. b. This is a major cause of climate change, accepted by most scientists. c. 2019 saw tarmac melt, trains cancelled due to sagging wires. 2022 saw record temperatures, 2023 to date about 6 weeks without rain, water shortages, hosepipe bans, river water levels very low. d. If we allow pollution to increase at the current rate what will be left for our children? e. We saw in the news that France has put bans on some short-haul flights to cut carbon emissions (this will only be a slight reduction) originally four hours and reduced to two and a half after pressure from the industry. f. The quoted figures for a single passenger on a domestic flight can be as much as 254g of CO2 per kilometre where the train is 41g of CO2. g. The expansion will destroy Wigmore Park, an area of carbon absorbing trees and wild life habitat, a place to walk and enjoy. Relocation of this area will take years to regenerate . h. Noise is a pollutant and from 2017 Luton BC have allowed the airport to exceed the permitted levels, Government policy requires levels to be reduced. Noise reduction was part of the 2013 agreement 12.9 million in 2019 was also part of the 2013 agreement not the 18million.