Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, is heading a campaign because of local concerns about the proposed expansion of Luton Airport:
I am leading this campaign because I know many local people value Luton Airport but are very concerned about the new plans they are consulting on, which could lead to an increase in passenger numbers from around 10million passengers per year to 18 million passengers per year. This is a huge increase and we are already suffering from the noise generated by overflying aircraft and this will only increase. I am concerned that the projections always factor in quieter aircraft, but from my own experience of living in Stevenage and directly under the flight path, the planes do not seem particularly quiet to me when they are coming in to land or to the many constituents who contact me about aircraft noise particularly in the summer months. It is important that any increase in capacity has to include noise reduction measures, so our quality of life locally is not affected.
I am also not convinced that the consultation process is fair as Luton Borough Council owns the airport and they will be responsible for agreeing the planning permission for it to expand. This is a direct conflict of interest and the plans must be fully scrutinised and decided by an independent party. I will be contacting the Secretary of State for Transport to ask her if she can intervene and ensure any planning decisions are comprehensively reviewed.
I would urge you to complete the online/paper survey being run by one of our local papers, the Comet, and to get involved in the consultation process so the views of all local people are taken into account before we have a plane flying over Stevenage every two minutes.
Stephen McPartland