Luton Airport expansion plans to be examined by the government

Campaigners said the expansion plans would "create noise blight" across the area

The government has agreed to examine proposals to expand Luton Airport that would see passenger numbers increase from 18 million to 32 million a year. 

Luton Rising, the Luton Council company that owns the airport, said it could generate £1.5bn per year and create thousands of new jobs.

But anti-noise campaigners have called the expansion plans "tragic".

The government's Planning Inspectorate has six months to examine the plans.

The transport secretary will then decide whether to grant development consent.

The expansion plans include new terminal capacity, an extension to the current airfield platform and new airside and landside facilities.

The council said the expansion would provide additional funding for local communities

A council spokesman previously said the airport was "one of the largest employers in the area, contributing enormously to the region's economic vibrancy on an annual basis, whilst itself increasing significantly in value as an asset in its own right through successive tranches of investment".

"We anticipate it will provide an additional £14m each year for communities in Luton and the surrounding areas," he said.

"For every additional passenger above the airport's current capacity, it will be able to invest an extra £1 into local communities, helping to tackle deprivation."

Andrew Lambourne, a spokesman for protest group Luton and District Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise (LADACAN), said: "It's tragic that the councillors who run Luton Rising have been so obsessed with growing the airport they appear to have lost sight of the need for prudence.

"As for the wider area, this proposal would create noise blight across north Hertfordshire, with flights increasingly starting at five in the morning and running on into the early hours, keeping thousands more people awake at night.

"The harms outweigh any possible benefits."