Representation by Claire Turner
- Date submitted
- 23 June 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
Luton is already a congested and air polluted urban settlement. With the proposed airport expansion, the town and surrounding countryside would see a significant increase in congestion, noise and air pollution. Luton is already the 4th most congested town or city in the UK, only London, Birmingham and Manchester are worse. Luton’s roads simply cannot cope with the additional increases in traffic that a second terminal would bring. In addition, expansion would see the destruction of vital local green space and the felling of hundreds of trees that currently improve local air quality and absorb pollution from the surrounding area. Furthermore, the proposed site for airport expansion risks disturbing old landfill that is currently contained under Wigmore Valley Park. Its disturbance could cause the release of harmful materials in to the local water supply and surrounding area. As such, I am writing in support of local residents opposing the expansion plans due to the above impacts. As a global citizen, I am writing to request that this expansion does not go ahead on climate considerations. As a climate emergency was declared by parliament in 2019, expanding air travel is simply not justifiable when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said we have only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a minimum. This means we have a moral and ecological imperative to stop the increase in flights and aircraft emissions.