A report summarising the
feedback received by the consultation on proposed changes to arrival routes
into London Luton Airport (LLA), was published today (Thursday 10 June
2021).
More than 2,400 people and organisations responded to the consultation, which ran from October 2020 to February 2021. Their feedback has been collated, categorised and reviewed to help inform the final design.
The Step 3D Feedback Report includes full details of how the responses have been categorised and themed, which themes may affect the final proposal and which ones won’t, and why.
The next step, 4A, is to complete a final design report, that uses this feedback to address the main points, followed by a full options appraisal. These three steps – the consultation, feedback report and final options appraisal – will complete Stage 4A of CAP1616, the “we asked, you said, we did” stages of the consultation process. Following that, the final design proposal should be delivered to the CAA later this month (June 2021).
Subject to CAA regulatory approval, the proposal is planned for implementation no earlier than February 2022.
The joint consultation, co-sponsored by London Luton Airport and air traffic control provider NATS, consulted on two options to simplify and modernise the arrival routes for flights into the UK’s fifth busiest airport and segregate them from Stansted’s, ensuring safety.
In response to the restrictions in place because of Covid-19, the consultation had an increased online presence to still allow for engagement with the majority of stakeholders. More than 11,000 people visited the virtual exhibition during the consultation period and 10 live interactive broadcast webinars were held for the public to ask questions directly to subject matter experts.
To help inform those members of the public who are not online, advertisements were placed in local newspapers and magazines and leaflets detailing the proposal, how to access paper consultation material and how to provide a postal response were offered to local representative groups.