2019 In Focus

The £160m redevelopment has been the biggest in the airport’s 80-year history and focused on making passengers’ journeys easier, quicker and more enjoyable, with significant improvements being made in the terminal and to the ways in which people get to and from the airport.

The transformation of the airport will increase its annual capacity by 50% to 18 million passengers by 2020. Since the work began passenger numbers have increased 35%, making LLA London’s fastest growing airport, with more than 16.5 million passengers expected to fly in 2018, an increase of 5% on 2017.

Nick Barton, CEO of London Luton Airport, said: “2018 has been a milestone year for LLA. We celebrated our 80th anniversary in the summer and now we have completed our three-year transformation which brings a host of benefits to passengers. This is a new era for LLA. We are the fastest-growing major London airport and are now in a position to play an increasingly important role in the UK’s aviation network.”

What passengers can now find at LLA:

•30 new high street and luxury stores, including Hugo Boss, Chanel, which offers an exclusive range at LLA, and Oliver Bonas’ first airport store

•Over 1,000 more seats and free Wi-Fi

•A new boarding pier, with eight additional boarding gates

•An expanded security search area

•A new dual carriageway, bus interchange and multi-storey car park.

Gavin Shuker, MP for Luton South, said: “Today is a very exciting day not just for the airport but also for Luton. The significant improvements not only bring benefits for the passenger but also for the local economy. I’m grateful to all those who’ve worked on this major redevelopment and look forward to the remaining pieces of the jigsaw, like the DART, helping London Luton Airport grow from strength to strength.”

Johan Lundgren, CEO, easyJet, said: “As the largest airline operating to and from London Luton Airport, we are excited that the airport’s transformation will benefit the seven million easyJet customers who use the airport every year. This transformation project was a key factor in our commitment to long term growth at the airport, so it’s great to see its completion.”

Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General, said: “Now more than ever, unlocking new aviation capacity to deliver global trade links is critical for a strong UK economy. With London’s airports fast filling up, extra capacity will drive trade and investment, create new jobs and help British businesses thrive at home and abroad. Luton’s new terminal is a vital part of this strategy, and will complement expansion schemes at other airports.”

London Luton Airport (LLA) has seen a 45 per cent drop in the number of noise complaints compared to last year.

According to the Quarterly Monitoring Report for July to September 2018, the number of noise complaints decreased from 5,785 during this period in 2017 to 3,175 in 2018.

It was also reported the number of complainants has also fallen, with 60 per cent of all complaints being made by 10 individuals.

London Luton Airport flight operations manager James Dontas explained: “While noise from aircraft is unavoidable, we are always working to minimise and mitigate its impact on the local community wherever possible.”

LLA has committed itself to reducing noise pollution through its Noise Action Plan and has invested £100,000 a year on insulation projects in properties in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

LLA recorded an increase of passengers from 4.79 million in the third quarter last year to 4.95 million this year.

March. PARKING REPORT now published. See link:

Parking Report official doc 2019 PDF.pdf

Parking Issues in Harpenden --What the people had to say on Jan 17 at a meeting organised by The Harpenden Society.

A 45 minute presentation by John Talbot of Harpark and Cllr Terry Heritage was followed by a lively Q & A session

Here is a summary:

Click back to the FRONT PAGE

NEW Community Safety

arrangements in

Harpenden and

St Albans

Did you know that The Crime and Disorder

Act 1998 requires certain agencies

throughout the country to work together to

reduce crime, disorder and

anti-social behaviour.

The St Albans City and District Community Safety Partnership has been formed and is known as the CSP.

They consult with the public and local groups on its plans for the coming year to tackle crime and disorder across the District. The consultation seeks residents' views on whether the Partnership's priorities are correct and how you think we should tackle these. It gives residents an opportunity to share views on crime and anti-social behaviour in the District and to highlight problems that need to be addressed. The Partners inc:

St Albans City and District Council

Hertfordshire Police & Crime Commissioner

Hertfordshire Constabulary

Hertfordshire County Council

Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service

Hertfordshire Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group

Hertfordshire Services for Young People

Hertfordshire Probation Trust

BeNCH Community Rehabilitation Company

Various local voluntary organisations

Strategic Aims 2019-20

A. To effectively tackle all crime through effective promotion, detection and prosecution and to manage the most prolific offenders.

B. To protect vulnerable adults - victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery, victims of scams and cybercrime, adults with mental health issues, rough sleepers and victims of serious violence.

C. To protect vulnerable children - victims of criminal exploitation, gangs, County Lines, crimes involving weapons, child sexual exploitation and those with mental health issues.

D. To reduce controlled drug and alcohol misuse including street drinking

E. To effectively tackle Anti-Social Behaviour - environmental, nuisance and personal using available legal powers and preventative, supportive/diversionary interventions.

Below these strategic aims sit the specific priorities for the year.

Specific priorities 2019-20

1. To establish an effective response to knife crime, gangs and criminal exploitation engaging with cross border partners.

2. To focus on acquisitive crime (burglary, personal robbery and motor vehicle crime) and local issues of concern, such as speeding, road safety, rough sleeping and street drinking in the city centre.

3. To assist local farmers, landowners and businesses by tackling rural and heritage crime such as flytipping, anti-social behaviour on private land and specific wildlife crime.

4. To support victims of domestic abuse, tackling repeat perpetrators, educating young people around healthy relationships and investigating domestic abuse amongst families.

5. To engage more effectively with relevant agencies to support those with health and wellbeing problems by developing procedures and pathways to assist them.

For any issues related to Community Safety contact us:

telephone: 01727 819358

email :communitysafety@stalbans.gov.uk

To report Anti-Social Behaviour please use the form below:

Reporting Anti-Social Behaviour eform

To report a rough sleeper:

Please call Open Door on 01727 859113 or complete the rough sleeper form.

Rough Sleeper referral form (PDF - 186 kb)

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I report a crime?

How do I contact my local police neighbourhood officer?

How do I report a crime?

In an emergency always dial 999.

An emergency is when there is a risk of injury to someone or a risk of serious damage to property or you suspect a crime is in progress or there is a serious incident which needs immediate police attendance.

Non emergency then contact the Hertfordshire Constabulary telephone number 101

How do I contact my local police neighbourhood officer?

You can find out the name and contact details of your local officers, including Police Constables, Police Community Support Officers, Crime Prevention Officer, Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator through the police website and by searching safer neighbourhoods or alternatively you log directly onto snt.herts.police.uk/

THERE ARE FULL REPORTS ON ALL THE ABOVE ISSUES AT THE SADC WEB SITE; CLICK HERE: https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/community-and-living/community-safety/default.aspx

AND A PUBLIC CONSULTATION, CLICK HERE: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CSP2019-20

March. A report from the owners of London Luton Airport

MAKING BEST USE OF OUR RUNWAY

“We have a unique opportunity as the owner of London Luton Airport to support sustainable growth of the local, sub-regional and national economies, and help meet the significant projected shortfall in aviation capacity in London and the South-East to 2050.”

— Cllr Andy Malcolm, Chair of LLAL

Following our initial consultation on proposed long-term sustainable growth of London Luton Airport in summer 2018, we have now confirmed our preferred option for development.

Using the existing single runway, we are targeting expansion of the airport to 32 million passengers per annum (mppa) from its current cap of 18 mppa.

Over the coming months we will work up the preferred option to develop proposals that will form the basis of a Development Consent Order application to the government.

We will then hold a statutory consultation on the proposals, which will include key strategies to minimise and mitigate impacts on the environment. This consultation is currently planned to take place in autumn 2019.

We have also published two additional technical reports:

Non-Statutory Consultation Report, which outlines the feedback received during the first period of consultation last summer

Sift 3 Report, which outlines how our expert advisors have continued to assess the options for development in the light of comments made.

Our preferred option

We are proposing a new second terminal to the north of the runway. To compensate for the partial use of Wigmore Valley Park, new parkland and open space would be provided over a larger area to the east of the existing park. This area is 10 per cent bigger than the existing park, and is positioned further away from the runway than at present.

The preferred option safeguards as much land as possible within the existing Wigmore Valley Park, where we propose to deliver significant improvements to facilities in the retained part of the park. It also constrains the extent of development in the green belt to the east of the airport.

This is our preferred option that will now form the basis for our ongoing design work.

To the left or above is the Draft layout of the preferred option for proposed development: subject to change, ongoing design and consultation. Click here to view the full document.

March: Harpenden Town Council’s Parking

Survey- Delayed

Harpenden Town Council will be coordinating two community

surveys to get local people’s views on the current parking

situation in the Town and improvement ideas for the future.

The first of these surveys will focus on residents and the

second will be focused on local businesses and their

employees.

Data collection to enable the surveys to be drafted has started:

Off-street car parks

*Last 3 vehicle details will be noted for occupancy & duration
surveys
*Counts every hour from 7am to 7pm; one weekday and one weekend
during school term time.
* Users will be approached to provide information for a short car park
user questionnaire

On street

*Measuring of all restrictions including dropped kerbs and excluding double yellow lines and 24-hour restrictions.
*Counts every 2 hours; one weekday and one weekend during school term time.

A budget of up to £9,000 has been agreed for the independent consultancy fees. NB.St Albans City & District Council (SADC) have overall responsibility for parking in the Town, but it is understood that they would be willing to consider adopting a parking strategy for Harpenden that has been developed by local people.

MARCH. Threat to Harpenden’s High Street

Luton Borough Council have recently granted planning permission for Newlands Business Park which will help finance Luton Town’s Football Club new 23,000-capacity ground.

The development will include leisure facilities and shops which had attracted objections from retailers in the town centre and nearby towns.

The scheme at Newlands Park involves new bars, restaurants, a 1,800-capacity live venue, a hotel with 300 bedrooms and car park,(3,600 spaces of which 1,900 spaces for retail and leisure uses and 1,700 for office and hotel uses ). It will be located adjacent to Stockwell Park golf club by junction 10 on the M1.

It is estimated that the development will, once completed, and operational and fully occupied create 9,780 full time equivalent jobs and make an annual gross value added contribution to the Luton economy of £235m per annum.

Air Quality. A quote from the official proposal

The application site is not currently located in an Air Quality Management Area and measures should be implemented to ensure this condition does not change.

Retail Competition

Some potential concerns were raised by Chase and Partners in relation to the commercial overlap of Newlands Park with Harpenden and St Albans given their retailer profile would be similar.

The applicant has considered the potential for impact and advises that the level of impact (based upon WYG's trade diversions) would be a reduction in St Albans turnover of £10.3m which is equivalent to 2.2% trading impact and Harpenden's turnover would be reduced by £1.6m which is equivalent to an impact of around 1.1 % on Harpenden's 2022 turnover.

Based upon health checks which identify both town centres as healthy, the applicant considers that these levels of trading impact would not give rise

to significant adverse impact upon the vitality and viability of St Albans or Harpenden.

How to report Luton Airport’s noisy planes

Aircraft noise can be very intrusive during the Spring and Summer months when you spend more time out doors.

Why not use the Luton airport app to track flights.

You will soon see and hear the scale of the issue.

Make a note of the flight from the app and then complain .

Just go to http://travisltn.topsonic.aero/ at least 20 minutes after a noisy jet overflies you, click on the blue button near the top, and fill-in the easy form.

Now is a critical time for LLA as they apparently have just made a planning application to waive the noise limit rules so that they can use older, more noisy jets.

OCTOBER 1. SURVEY NOW CLOSED. AWAITING RESULTS

AUGUST 22. London Luton Airport (LLA) and Abellio have announced the launch of an express rail service between London St Pancras and Luton Airport Parkway.

The partnership will bring a package of more than £600 million investment in improvements to rail services across the East Midlands and between Bedford, Corby, Wellingborough, Kettering, Luton Aiport Parkway and London St Pancras.

This new rail service will come into service by December 2020, and will feature fast trains between St Pancras and Luton Airport Parkway every 30 minutes.

The positive changes to be brought in by EMR include the replacement of the entire intercity train fleet that will link cities in the North and East Midlands to London St Pancras, and the introduction of electric trains between London and Luton Airport Parkway, Luton, Wellingborough, Corby, Bedford and Kettering.

There will also be an investment of £20 million at all stations with specific improvements made at St Pancras including new waiting areas for all EMR customers.

Alberto Martin, chief executive of London Luton Airport (LLA), said: “We welcome the arrival of EMR and the commitment to provide an express-style service to the airport every half an hour from December 2020.

“Along with the arrival of the £225m Direct Air-Rail Transit service in 2021, linking Luton Airport Parkway station directly with the airport terminal, we will see a step change in rail connectivity between London and its fastest-growing airport.

Sept. A sustainable future for cars and parking? OR

The end of the road for the future of cars and parking?

HERTFORDSHIRE IS IN GROWTH MODE.

Take a look at the County Council’s Corporate Plan 2019/2025 and you will see all the growth projections in population, new homes, new infrastructure, new jobs BUT no mention of new or more car parks.

‘Highways, environment and infrastructure

We maintain 3,000 miles of roads, carrying out over 1,000 maintenance and

improvement schemes as well as fixing more than 25,000 potholes and we are planning for the delivery of up to 100,000 new homes and associated infrastructure Total spend £70.2m ‘

‘EXPECT TO SEE 20% TRAFFIC increase in Hertfordshire ‘

‘100,000 NEW HOMES ARE PLANNED IN THE COUNTY ‘

SADC IS IN GROWTH MODE

If you examine the new Local Plan (if it gets submitted for examination early 2020) you will see the huge number of new build homes (15k) with associated infrastructure. But no new car parks.

Take a look at the minutes from their July Cabinet Meeting and you will no mention of car parking plans ONLY ways to reduce the use/impact of cars. EXCEPT the plans for electric car charge points.

‘We are asking the county council in the first instance to allow car free days on Sundays and to accelerate the full pedestrianisation of Market Place. ‘

‘Develop a comprehensive plan with the County Council for measures to reduce congestion and encourage walking and cycling, including the pedestrianisation of Market Place and a significant increase in 20 mph zones; ‘

‘Negotiate with the County Council for new ways of managing grass verges and trees alongside highways; ‘

‘Increase the number of anti-idling zones with a programme of effective enforcement; ‘

‘Develop plans for a significant increase in off-street and on-street electric charging points and for the introduction of electric taxis; ‘

AND DON’T FORGET THAT SELF-DRIVE CARS ARE ON THE WAY

Three busy car parks in Harpenden town centre Sept 4.

Oct. 1 Playing Out scheme launches in Harpenden

A new scheme for residents of Harpenden called Playing Out will enable neighbours to apply to close their own road approximately once a month to let children play and allow neighbours to socialise. The scheme has been running as a trial during 2019, gradually increasing in size so that over 500 residents eventually took part. The scheme is now open for applications for 2020.

Local Playing Out co-ordinator, Nicola Wyeth, said:

“Playing Out sessions enable children to play out in the way that we all took for granted when we were young. It is a fabulous way to build communities, for parents to find a support network and for isolated residents to enjoy a cuppa and a chat all while the children get fresh air and exercise.”

The Playing Out scheme is being run throughout the district by St Albans District Council and the charity Sustainable St Albans. Residents can apply to close their road to through traffic for up to 3 hours 8 times a year for the purposes of children’s play and community building.

Joe Tavernier, Head of Community Services at St Albans District Council, said:

“I am delighted that Playing Out is launching in St Albans District. The 2019 trial year has been a great success and we look forward to more streets applying for 2020.”

A Playing Out scheme is always run in a way that minimises any inconvenience to residents who need access by vehicle to the closed area. Neighbours volunteer to steward the road closure points and if a driver needs access, they are escorted to their property at walking pace after children have been cleared from the road.

Harpenden Playing Out street organiser, Louise Gordon, said:

“During the summer we hosted a street party and quite a few people asked me if we could get together more regularly so I contacted Playing Out St Albans District and they have given us all the information we need…and they’ve even provided us with the equipment, such as the hi viz vests for the stewards and the road closed signs. They’ve made it super easy.”

Interested residents can find out more at http://sustainablestalbans.org/playingout or get in touch by email to playingout@sustainablestalbans.org.

Shopping Centre

Scroll down to read all the exciting event details and editorials

Oct 18. Plans to expand Luton Airport are "reckless and irresponsible" at a time when the UK should be reducing air travel,” opponents have said.

St Albans MP Anne Main said the situation was ‘intolerable’. “Luton has quickly exceeded their previous passenger number estimates and they will no doubt do that again if this expansion is granted”.

London Luton Airport Limited (LLAL) want to build a second terminal (artist’s impression above) and increase passenger numbers to 32 million a year by 2039 and have started a second public consultation across the region with 34 events concluding on Sat Dec 7.

YOU CAN SEE THE PLANS by clicking on this link: view the plans

The Event in Harpenden: November 12 at Harpenden Public Halls 2pm - 8pm

The airport said environmental impact remained an "absolute priority".

A spokesman said an additional £14m a year would be made available for local communities, the airport would retain a single runway, and there were "no plans" to increase the number of night flights.

The airport's owners want to increase passenger numbers to 32m a year by 2039

Ciaran Scanlon, (ABOVE) programme delivery director at LLAL, said: "We recognise that our proposals would bring impacts, for the environment and people who live and work nearby."

But he said the company was committed to encouraging greater use of public transport, with a target to "make sure at least 45 per cent of airport passengers do this from 2029."

Robin Porter, chief executive of Luton Borough Council, said the proposals "minimise impact on green belt" and deliver "an annual £2bn uplift to the UK economy."

LLAL will submit its application to the Planning Inspectorate in summer 2020, with a decision expected by the Secretary of State by the end of 2021.

Expansion plans at Luton Airport also include a third stop on site for the town's DART train. Andrew Lambourne, of Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise, said the expansion was "unethical" with the owners "driven to maximise capacity for Luton regardless of the environmental impact".

He said the promises made, including the introduction of quieter aircraft and the redesign of airspace in the region, were "not in the gift of the airport".

"What constrains Luton is that the terminal is small and compact, they cannot get passengers through quick enough," he said.

Oct. 29. Stansted Airport owner has plans for major international expansion

The launch in early November of Air India’s flights to Amritsar and the Indian Government’s intention to open up the Punjab state’s presence for business and tourism in the UK is important. Coupled with their existing

twice daily Emirates flights to Dubai, the potential to

expand transatlantic flights and services to China via

Cathay Pacific the future for the airport’s development

looks promising.

Stansted is owned by MAG, the Manchester Airports

Group which is majority controlled by the city’s

councils. They bought Stansted in 2013 and moved

Ken O’Toole in as chief executive two years ago with

a plan to expand into the long haul flights market

and attract new carriers. Stansted forecasts until

early 2032 that their passenger numbers will increase

from 23 million to 43 million.

A key element for future success is a significant

improvement in the rail links to Stansted, already

recommended in Sir Howard Davies’s report into

London Airport expansion. State of the art digital

signalling could cut journey times to nearer 30

mins on the Stansted Express

CEO of London Stansted Airport, Ken O’Toole

(below right) used to run Manchester Airport and

before that six years at Ryanair so he knows the

business from all sides.

Watch this space for more news soon.

TUI, the UK’s largest holiday company, has

announced their biggest ever holiday programme with

new destinations; Skiathos (Greece) and Enfidha

(Tunisa) added to its summer 2020 programme from

London Stansted. 52,000 MORE SEATS NOW ON SALE

ECO FRIENDLY STANSTED

London Stansted is set to become the first airport in

the world to convert all its coffee grounds to solid

biofuels after a successful trial with Cambridgeshire-

based bio-bean, the world’s largest recycler of coffee

grounds. Passengers there drink over six million

cups of coffee a year, creating over 150 tonnes of

coffee waste from all 21 of the airport’s coffee shops,

restaurants and bars. The coffee grounds are

transported to bio-bean’s hi-tech processing facility

near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. then converted

into Coffee Logs, each made from the grounds of

around 25 cups of coffee and used in domestic wood burners and multi-fuel stoves as a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional fuels. Recycling coffee grounds this way saves 80% on CO2e emissions than if they were sent to landfill and 70% than if they were sent to an anaerobic digestion facility and mixed with food waste, as currently happens.

Photos courtesy of London Stansted

NO SUPPORT FOR FUTURE EXPANSION AT

LUTON AIRPORT says Harpenden Rural County Councillor,

Annie Brewster.

Vice-Chair of the London Luton Airport Consultative Committee.

Whilst in favour of economic growth and completing the

improvements already agreed for the airport to 18m passengers,

she does not support the airport wanting to double its number of

passengers to a staggering 32m per year (they were 9m in 2014).

The 2013 expansion has been driven to achieve growth without

delivering any mitigations for:

▪ Noise - we all suffer excessive noise due to planes being kept at low altitudes beneath Heathrow flights which currently get priority. There have been failed efforts to get them higher, and the few quieter planes have been offset by more of the noisier ones. The airport has breached its permitted noise conditions for two years. Luton departures currently cause constant stress to many Harpenden residents.

▪ Roads - there has been no mitigation on our, already overcrowded, local roads that serve as a major approach route to the airport for passengers from the east. An east/west public transport solution has not been provided.

▪ Rail - the Thameslink line into London is already unreliable and at capacity. Harpenden has lost many trains and the new Consultation warns there may not be seats on the Thameslink service at Luton Parkway between at morning peak times, before they even get to Harpenden and St Albans.

ADDITIONAL REASONS TO QUESTION THE EXPANSION

* The Committee on Climate Change’s report supporting Governments net-zero policy advised that emissions from international flights increased by 3.6% to 35.0 Mt and emissions from domestic flights by 2.6% to 1.5 Mt. Overall, emissions from aviation in 2017 were more than double 1990 levels. Action is needed to significantly reduce aviation emissions and take urgent action to implement plans accordingly by reducing aviation growth, improving plane efficiency, developing sustainable biofuels and constraining consumer demand growth.

* The planned UK Airspace review will be completed in 2025 when future flight routes will be known.

* Await a review of post Brexit implications and flight demands.

* Await a review of the impact of the DART (the new rail link being built between Luton Parkway Station and the airport) on increased public transport use over cars/buses, and the effect it has on Thameslink.

* Await the decision on Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted expansions – approval to proceed will lead to major over-capacity.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

▪ Attend the airport's consultation event in Harpenden Public Halls on 12th November between 2pm -8pm, see the proposals and ask the airport representatives relevant questions

▪ Read the consultation documents and Email your objections to futureluton@llal.org.uk by 16th December

▪ Follow the website of groups such as LADACAN www.ladacan.org for advice on how best to respond

▪ Email the Secretary of State for Transport, Welwyn Hatfield MP Grant Shapps at grant.shapps.mp@parliament.uk with your objections to this giant expansion proposal