Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) “needs to expand” and the city should get behind it, according to the council’s economic lead. Liverpool Council is currently setting out how it will shape the future of the city over the next 15 years through its local plan.
Population growth drives expansion plans
With an anticipation the population could grow by more than 70,000 by 2043, policy changes are being worked through to support Liverpool’s growth ambitions. Cllr Nick Small, cabinet member for growth and economy, told a meeting at Liverpool Town Hall how this includes the terminal in Speke.
The City Centre North Labour member said any future growth of the airport would be done in a way to protect nearby green spaces, like Oglet Shore, as well as in tandem with the city council’s own environmental targets. Proposals for LJLA to grow stretch back as far as 2006.
Council stake and support
Liverpool Council has a 5% stake in the airport, which was reduced from 10% in 2022. Cllr Small said: “We are supporting the sustainable growth of Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
“I had a meeting about something else with Liverpool John Lennon Airport, they are operating at base capacity at the moment, that’s about the planes that are based at Liverpool Airport. This is a key metric about how airports can expand and how airlines will increase value within airports.
“Liverpool John Lennon Airport needs to expand, we need to get behind that and support that as a city and that’s what this local plan does. We’ve done so in a way that ensures there’s no adverse impacts to habitats or access to Oglet Shore, so it’s about combining both of those together.”
No night flights, focus on base capacity
Cllr Small stressed there were no plans for night time flights but would want more services to be based in the city. Oglet Shore is an agricultural coastal area between Speke and Hale village and is well known as one of Paul McCartney’s favourite places to visit as a child.
The fields that lie between the airport runway and Oglet are often described as the “last truly rural area” in Liverpool. Cllr Small added: “It’s about not closing the door to future airport expansion and I think it’s about being open minded about that over the long term, we want to get behind that as a city.
“I think realistically what Liverpool John Lennon Airport would be talking about at the moment probably isn’t expansion of runways or building new runways, it’s about supporting increased movements within there but it’s also around this issue of base capacity, they’re operating at base capacity which is the aircraft that are based overnight at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
“If you wanted to increase that and increase the value and bring in more routes, you’re going to have to build new infrastructure in the airport to be able to do that.
“We want to balance that against protecting the habitat at Oglet Shore but also increasing access to Oglet Shore and being able to do this.”
Environmental targets and innovation
Cllr Small acknowledged the council had “very clear” targets on achieving net zero and there was a requirement to be open minded in how it worked with the aviation industry and conversations had taken place around the use of sustainable fuels.
He added: “It’s about not closing the door to the future growth of the city, not closing the door to future technological innovation that may benefit that, but we’ve got to be open minded about that.”
