I can count 10 extra stands that don’t exist today excluding the 4 under construction. Already approved actually means permitted development where the airport owner aka Luton Borough Council does what it likes without public scrutiny.
Car Parks P6 and P7 are both located on a major officially recognised large County Wildlife Site that will be destroyed. I guess no one cares here about that when their priority is to just count aircraft stands as though it was a sport.
Very interestingly, a serving barrister who was a Labour councillor has resigned the Labour whip. One of her allegations is that there was collusion between Labour councillors and portfolio holders regarding how they should vote, which is illegal, as the planning committee is meant to be independent of the council with councillors hearing the evidence and then voting based on what they heard at committee. I include part of her long letter below which demonstrates amply how corrupt the Council is when it comes to planning decisions.
(i) Due to the incompetence and failure to follow rules and procedures which I observed on the planning committee. Unfortunately, independent thought is not encouraged in the Luton Labour Group. You are encouraged to stand up for your residents’ interests only if they align with the wishes of the councillors who control the Group. However, if your residents approach you and wish you to help them with something that is contrary to certain councillors’ views it is made clear to you that this is not the way things are done within the Labour Group. Firstly, there is a “quiet word in your ear” from a portfolio holder, then from the Whip, then a formal complaint to the Whip and then a formal complaint to Standards at the Council containing allegations completely lacking in merit, with 18 other staff (officers) and councillors copied into the email.
A very cavalier attitude was displayed by certain Labour councillors to following rules and procedures on the planning committee, and I often had to remind certain fellow Labour councillors of the need to adhere to the rules. The most egregious example included a discussion in an email chain with one senior member of the planning committee discussing with a portfolio holder how he was going to vote prior to a forthcoming full council meeting. This was blatantly ignoring the requirement for the members of the planning committee to base their decision on the representations made at the meeting and to not be pre-determined. This conversation followed the portfolio holder circulating documentation which was also contrary to the rules as this should be circulated through the officers.
We have a code of conduct that we should follow as councillors and that includes acting with integrity and not turning a blind eye when rules and procedures are being flouted. As a member of the planning committee, I believed that the residents deserved a fair hearing and both applicants and objectors deserved to be treated equally. For standing up and ensuring that this was the case I was reported to our Group Whip.
The complaint about me to Standards at the Council was made after I asked for a site visit at a planning meeting and this led to some Labour colleagues on the planning committee trying to ignore protocol and precedent and moving to a vote on a planning application when I wished to have a site visit to properly understand the application. We are meant to consider and scrutinise applications and not simply waive them through or rubber stamp them. It transpired that the application contained inaccurate information which was why I was having difficulty understanding the same. When I quite properly acted on behalf of my residents within the rules life on the planning committee was made increasingly difficult.
I made a formal complaint to the Whip copying in the Leader detailing the above and numerous other concerns including being shouted at on several occasions. I also complained that in planning meetings residents were shouted at and derogatory comments were made to certain residents if they opposed the officers’ recommendations.
You can probably guess where this is going, the Leader removed me from the planning committee in April 2021. As a consequence, I resigned the Labour Whip. This is before Luton was placed in special measures and when the residents still had a vote and when I was effectively giving up all chances of being a councillor in the next council election, as Independents tend not to be elected in Luton. I felt that it was pointless to remain in the Labour Group when you could not effectively represent your residents’ views.
The Whip and the Chair contacted me and asked if I really wanted to be an Independent. I replied that I was not making up the numbers in a Labour Group when the Leader was removing someone who was calling out the way protocols and rules were flouted and when I was actually doing the job for which I was elected, in effect I was a whistleblower. I was re-instated to the planning committee, and I decided to remain in the Labour Group as I felt I would have more of a positive effect changing things from within.