There has been opposition to the expansion of the airport and reception from different members of the public.
What I will try to answer in a fair and non bias answer to “Should the expansion of Luton airport be allowed”. I will do this using different mediums and personal knowledge.
Externalities
There a many externalities involved both positive and negative involved in the expansion of Luton airport.
First I will define what an externality is; these are costs or benefits arising from business activity that are experienced by people or organizations outside the firm.
One of the main positive externalities is more jobs created by the expansion of the airport. This will be jobs in making the new terminal and runways, and then also the jobs needed to run the new terminal and runways. It is estimated 5,000 new jobs will be created for the expansion. (Footnote ). This will be a good thing as Luton has a high unemployment rate at 6 %.( Footnote ).
Another positive externality is the increase in people coming to the airport. This would be from and estimated 6 million a year that it is presently to an estimated 30 million passengers a year after expansion. (Footnote www.lutontoday.com) This means more money would be pumped into Luton and surrounding villages as more travelers will be going to these towns. This would be a positive for the economy of Luton and for the U.K. But it is likely that 80% of the extra passengers would not actually enter Luton town centre as it 20 minutes away from the airport so the extra money will be spent either in Luton airport or in a 5 mile radius from hotels, petrol pumps etc.
Government spending is also a positive externality. If the airport is expanded more roads would be built by the government, this will make journey times easier for people getting in and out of Luton. I personally will be affected positively if new roads are built as I live in Luton and if new roads were to be built it would help to cut my journey time to school and back. Also the government would spend money on better transport for getting in and out of the airport. This will affect passengers and local residents.
As well as positive externalities there are negative ones.
One of the main negative externalities will be environmental damage. If the airport is expanded, field land and trees will have to give way. This will affect the animal inhabitants of these places. Also increase in pollution from the new terminal, more planes, more traffic, the extra lorry’s and vehicles during building and more people. These will contribute to extra pollution in the area. Anther pollution that will occur is noise pollution. There will be much more planes flying over houses causing more noise and disruption. Already residents are unhappy with the planes flying over. I know this from personal experience as I live in Luton and can constantly hear planes flying over.
Congestion will be another negative externality. With more people coming to the airport and also when the airport is being built there will people increase in traffic. This will cause congestion for local residents using these roads. I will be affected be this as the route I take to school crosses with the root into Luton airport. This will mean more delays and disruption.
Alternative Solutions:
Alternative ideas of expanding Luton Airport could be expanding an airport in another region. This would relieve local residents and protesters against expanding Luton. It would also mean less pollution in Luton and less environmental damage. But the problem is that where ever they expand an airport there will always be people against the idea and the environmental damage won’t go away it will just move to a different place, UK will still have the same environmental damage. Also the expansion would really help Luton due to the high unemployment levels of the town, the expansion will bring more jobs and give an economic boost.
Another solution is to halt all UK airport expansions and stick with the airports we have. This would mean no protesters against expansion as there would be none, no extra congestion, no traffic, no extra environmental damage and no other negative things that come from airport expansions. This again is a problem as what ever happens the amount of planes in the sky is going to increase as demand for flights increases. If the expansions don’t take place, the airplanes will be just congested in the present terminals. Also some planes might just not stop in the UK and just go to a different country. If fewer planes can get in to UK and the demand for plane tickets is high, the price of tickets will soar. This means less people will fly out of the country and less people will come in. This will be bad for the economy.
Conclusion:
I conclude that Luton airport expansion should go ahead. I believe this as it is a well needed boost for the economy of Luton and the UK. The expansion of the airport needs to take place as it has to keep up with the demand of travel and the influx of planes. If the expansion did not take place in Luton it would have taken place in another airport. This would mean Luton would miss out on the economic and jobs boost the town needs. I believe the traffic and congestion will affect the town but only for a short term as once the expansion and new roads are built this will severely decrease and might even lower current figures. For the environment factor I feel that it will affect Luton’s environment but the expansion needs to take place to keep up with demand, and so if they moved it to a different region or country the levels of pollution and environment would still increase in the world. So for the expansion to take in Luton that’s the price they have to pay for an economic boost.
