Lawyers for LADACAN attended the Court of Appeal on 19th May for what had been ordered and listed as a 2-day rolled-up hearing to consider our request for an extension of time, our request to appeal the High Court judgement permitting Luton Rising’s Development Consent Order (DCO), and our grounds of appeal. But after just half a day, the panel of judges said they “refuse the extension of time and thus refuse permission to appeal” and ended the session, without actually hearing the permission request or grounds of appeal.
This bizarre twist not only left us feeling that justice had not been served, but also did not actually resolve the substance of our appeal against the massive expansion of Luton Airport. Most unfairly, we were ordered to pay £10,000 of adverse costs without our full submissions against the High Court judgment having been heard.
In light of previous case law, the outcome leaves LADACAN the option to appeal this judgment, so that we can reach the intended point where our appeal against the High Court judgement on the DCO is actually heard. We therefore instructed our legal team to file papers requesting permission to apply to the Supreme Court to have the Appeal Court judgment reviewed, since what happened was out of kilter with the original order and the court listing for a 2-day rolled-up hearing.
Our underlying case against the Secretary of State still remains strong: the approval of near-doubling of capacity at Luton Airport unlawfully failed to properly assess its climate impact, in ways that matter for every major infrastructure project decision.
In the meantime, because that case remains open, Luton Rising does not have a green light to proceed with its massive development project.
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