To be fair, I only read a snippet in my lunch break. From what I've seen, this report is a pointless exercise. I do wonder if any of the people who wrote this have ever been to Luton and have a modicum of local knowledge, or even aviation knowledge?
Luton is probably one the best locations - that's where the sense ended. If Cublington went ahead instead of Maplin Sands, that would've been the best location for an airport. But, 40-50 years later, that was never built and we have a thriving "small" airport just around the corner.
Luton will never have four runways. The economics, physicality, politics simply won't allow it. Its not even close to being sustainable; it just doesn't make sense at all. Heck, the airport abandoned plans for 2 terminals/runways 5 years ago, when the economy was at its height and UK air travel was at its peak.
The physicality simply won't allow it. Where would these four runways go? Even extending 08/26 to full length is problematic enough! An option in the 2002 White Paper was to build a diagonal runway parallel with East Luton/Cockenhoe which was dismissed out of hand. A runway 500m south of the current one was favoured.
I was unimpressed when I saw the plans from Future Luton Optimisation some months ago, however this collaboration from the council fills me with optomism for a sustainable LTN.
PPRuNers have been shouting from the hills for many a year that the expansion of Heathrow is the only option, as well as utilising existing capacity. I've stated many times, I'm highly sceptical about the forecasted rapid passenger growth through London. And a plan such as this, or the radical Thames Estuary plan would mean that Heathrow would have to close, crushing the economy of Hounslow, Hayes et al.