Luton’s community-led airport with Nick Platts

The Infrastructure Podcast

In this week's episode we take a look at airport development and specifically how, contrary to popular believe, it can actually positively benefit local communities.

To do this we are going to focus on Luton Rising, the community-owned owner of London Luton Airport and the driving force behind one of the UK’s most ambitious aviation expansion projects — a £2.4 billion investment that will increase capacity from 19 to 32 million passengers per year through the development of a second terminal.

And at the heart of the plan is Nick Platts, Managing Director of Luton Rising. For the last two and a half years he has been immersed in this vast and ambitious project and used his experience from working in aviation and logistic around the world and last April successfully achieved a Design Consent Order – DCO for this important piece of Nationally Significant Infrastructure.

But this is far more than a transport or infrastructure story. As the UK’s only 100% community-owned airport, Luton Rising channels its profits directly back into local services and community projects — over half a billion pounds since 1997.

As such, the project represents not only a major boost for the regional economy — contributing an estimated £1.5 billion annually to GDP and creating thousands of jobs — but also a pioneering example of how growth, sustainability, and social value can align under public ownership.

So lots to talk about as we explore what makes the Luton Rising model so distinctive, and how it navigated the complex Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project process, to get to the starting blocks ready to turn ambition into reality.

Resources

• Luton Rising expansion plans
• Luton Rising website
• London Luton Airport
• Luton Rising DCO for expansion
• Luton Borough Council
• UK Government policy on airport expansion