Legal challenge to Luton Airport expansion given green light

LADACAN says development consent for the expansion was granted unlawfully in April 2025, and argues that the impact on climate change has not been properly assessed.

The group launched its legal claim in May, writing to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander before applying for a judicial review challenge to her decision to approve the airport expansion. 

Now, a judge has ruled that the legal challenge can progress, with the case set be heard in the High Court later this year or early next year.  

The airport expansion plans were first submitted in February 2023, and planning inspectors conducted an examination of the plans between August 2023 and February 2024.  

In May 2024, the planning inspectors published their report and recommended that planning permission for the expansion should not be granted, stating that the public benefits of the development did not outweigh the detrimental impact on the environment. 

However, the Transport Secretary went against this recommendation and granted development consent for the expansion. 

The group says plans for the airport expansion fail to properly assess the effects it would have on climate change, and the decision to grant development consent was inconsistent with the approach taken over the Gatwick Airport expansion.  

The grounds of claim are:

• There was an error in law in that greenhouse gas emissions from inbound flights were excluded from the environmental impact assessment (EIA). 
• There was a lack of consistency in approach between the Luton Airport decision and the Gatwick Airport expansion, which has been delayed while environmental concerns are addressed.  
• There was an error in law in that the likely significant impacts of non-carbon dioxide emissions were excluded from the EIA. 
• There was an error in law concluding that the government’s duty under the Climate Change Act 2008 to adopt policies and procedures to help reach net zero was a ‘pollution control regime’. 
• There was a failure to comply with duties under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which require that developments in an area of outstanding national beauty must seek to further the conservation and enhancement of the area. 

Andrew Lambourne, chair of LADACAN, said: 

“The government is recklessly gambling with all our futures by continuing to permit aviation expansion without credible pathways to meet its net zero commitments. Each month brings new evidence of climate change impacts, yet there is still no carbon cap for UK aviation and airports are grabbing what capacity they can while best advice from the UN and the Climate Change Committee is being ignored. Kicking the can down the road is no answer – and we’re fast running out of road.” 

Leigh Day partner Ricardo Gama, who represents LADACAN, said: 

“Our clients are pleased that a judge has found that their challenge to the grant of consent for the expansion of Luton Airport is arguable and should progress to a full hearing. An economic model which depends on the unchecked growth of industries which at present cannot be decarbonised is unsustainable in the long term. That is why our clients are disappointed that they are having to go all the way to the High Court to make sure that the carbon emissions of this project are properly assessed. We look forward to the High Court hearing.”