Legal turbulence continues over Luton airport expansion

The Court of Appeal is to hear a challenge over the expansion of Luton Airport after campaigners argued climate impacts were not properly assessed. 

The challenge has been brought by the Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (LADACAN), which is seeking to overturn development consent granted for the scheme.

Proposals submitted in February 2023 included a new terminal that would double the airport’s annual passenger capacity. 

Planning inspectors recommended against the expansion in May 2024, concluding that environmental harms outweighed the benefits. However, transport secretary Heidi Alexander approved the project in April 2025. 

LADACAN then launched a judicial review, claiming emissions from increased flight traffic had not been properly considered and that the approach taken differed from the assessment used for Gatwick’s expansion.

The High Court rejected the claim in December last year. 

Although, the Court of Appeal has now granted a rolled-up hearing, which will consider both permission to appeal and the wider legal challenge.

Andrew Lambourne, chair of LADACAN, said: ‘If the High Court’s decision stands, it would legally authorise the systematic omission of up to five sixths of the actual climate impact of airport expansion from environmental assessments – and not just at Luton.

‘The same approach was used in improving Gatwick’s expansion just months later. This is precisely the kind of absurdity that the principles established in the Supreme Court’s Finch judgement are intended to prevent.’

Ricardo Gama, a partner at law firm Leigh Day, which represents LADACAN, added: ‘LADACAN does not believe that the High Court properly grappled with implications of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the landmark case of Finch and we are pleased that a panel of three judges in the Court of Appeal will reconsider this important issue.’

Image: John McArthur/UnSplash 

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