The Department for Transport has issued a statutory correction to the London Luton Airport Expansion Development Consent Order 2025 (S.I. 2025/463). The London Luton Airport Expansion Development Consent (Correction) Order 2026 (S.I. 2026/328) was made on 20 March 2026 and comes into force on 21 March 2026 under section 119 and paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to the Planning Act 2008. It follows a request from the applicant within the statutory period and notification to the relevant local planning authority as required by Schedule 4.
Correction Orders are used to remedy errors or omissions without revisiting the merits of the original decision. The Secretary of State has confirmed that this instrument makes targeted textual changes to the 2025 Order to clarify obligations on flood risk assessment, monitoring and reporting timetables, and management of noise contour limits. The Order is signed on the Secretary of State’s authority by Natasha Kopala, Head of the Transport and Works Act Orders Unit at the Department for Transport, dated 20 March 2026.
Before any construction begins, the undertaker must review the latest Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Data published by the Environment Agency against the Flood Risk Assessment set out in Environmental Statement Appendix 20.1 (as listed in Schedule 9 and certified under article 50 of the 2025 Order). This establishes a clear pre‑commencement checkpoint aligned to the most current Environment Agency datasets, rather than locking risk judgements to the examination baseline.
The undertaker is required to consult the Environment Agency and the lead local flood authority on whether that review triggers the need for an updated flood risk assessment. Where a material change in risk is identified, the undertaker must prepare an updated assessment for written approval by Luton Borough Council, following consultation with those flood authorities. Once approved, the authorised development must proceed in accordance with the updated assessment, creating a direct compliance link between consented works and refreshed flood evidence.
The Order standardises the timetable for environmental governance reporting to the ESG (if appointed). The first Monitoring Report must be prepared on the date notice is served under article 44(1) of the 2025 Order (interaction with LLAOL planning permission) and no later than 31 July in that calendar year, with all subsequent Monitoring Reports due on or before 31 July annually. This removes ambiguity around reporting cycles and anchors delivery to both a procedural trigger and a fixed calendar date.
Noise control provisions are clarified to recognise circumstances where an exceedance is caused by factors certified by the ESG to be beyond the undertaker’s control. This creates a defined route for independent certification where external events could otherwise register as a technical breach, while preserving scrutiny through the ESG’s role.
Separately, the undertaker may seek the Secretary of State’s approval to change the noise contour limits following consultation with Luton Borough Council and, where appointed, the ESG. Any change can only be approved where it is demonstrated that it would not result in materially new or materially different noise effects from those assessed in the Environmental Statement. This test maintains alignment between operational controls and the environmental envelope examined at consent stage.
A minor textual correction is made to sub‑paragraph formatting to ensure the provision reads correctly, replacing the relevant marker with “- (a)”. While purely editorial, such adjustments matter for legal certainty, cross‑referencing and enforcement.
For compliance leads, the immediate tasks are operational. Programme teams should schedule the pre‑commencement flood data review, open engagement with the Environment Agency and the lead local flood authority, and prepare documentation for Luton Borough Council approval if risk materially changes. Environmental managers should diarise the 31 July reporting deadline, align internal monitoring to ESG requirements, and retain evidence to support any certification that an exceedance was outside the undertaker’s control.
Governance teams should update the DCO compliance matrix to reflect the revised duties, including the link to article 44(1) for the first Monitoring Report. If contour limit adjustments are contemplated, early scoping against the Environmental Statement baseline and structured consultation with Luton Borough Council and the ESG will be essential. The correction does not reopen the consent; it tightens how obligations are executed in practice from 21 March 2026.