HUNDREDS of people have been having their say on plans to expand Luton Airport at a series of consultation events.
Airport bosses want to double the current number of passengers to 18 million, with the possibility of growth to 30 million in the future, using the existing runway.
London Luton Airport Limited, which runs the airport on behalf of Luton Borough Council, says the growth would create 6,000 new jobs at the airport, but anti-noise campaigners have voiced concerns about the increase in passenger numbers.
Concerns have also been raised about how the roads leading up to the airport would cope with an increase in traffic.
The plans include a new dual carriageway road system to ease congestion, a multi-storey car park to replace the current short stay car park, new taxi ways to make the runway more efficient, and a new pier for boarding planes.
At the consultation event at Stockwood Discovery Centre on Wednesday (February 29), representatives from consultants GL Hearn and Arup took questions from the public and talked people through maps of the proposed plans for the site.
Jasvinder Singh, of Langford Drive, Stopsley, said he could see the positive and negative aspects of the proposals.
“We need the business, we could do with that and the employment but then again the environmental impact is so much greater, and I think that might outweigh the benefits,” he said.
“But people are going to fly, we can’t change people’s lifestyles, and if the growth isn’t in Luton then it will be Stansted or somewhere else.
“I do want Luton to be prosperous.”
A Caddington resident, who did not want to be named, said: “The thing that would worry me would be more night flights, I wouldn’t be happy about that.
“But on the plus side I’m pleased it’s going to help the economy. It’s got to be a balance.”
There is one further consultation event still to take place, at the Raynham Way Community Centre on Thursday, March 8, from 1.30pm to 7.30pm.