News Updates
September 08 2024 • 2 minute read
Leeds City Council has announced that it has rejected Leeds Bradford Airport’s controversial proposal, known as a CLEUD, which would have allowed older and noisier aircraft to operate at night.
The Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA) has welcomed the decision and called on the Council to similarly reject the one remaining CLEUD, which would allow unrestricted night flights for the newer aircraft fleets.
GALBA also called for strong enforcement action to be taken against the airport for its
breach of the night time flying rules in the 2023 and 2024 summer seasons.
Nick Hodgkinson, chair of GALBA, said: “We’re delighted that Leeds City Council has rejected LBA’s attempts to fly noisier aircraft at night. We were always confident that this was the only lawful and responsible decision they could make. It’s also the only decision that was in keeping with the purpose of the rules – to protect public health by putting a limit on night flights”
“We now look forward to the Council rejecting the one remaining CLEUD and taking strong enforcement action against LBA because they have exceeded the number of permitted night flights for three years running”.
Nick Hodgkinson added “After LBA broke the rules in summer 2022, the Council issued a ‘breach of condition’ notice, warning that a further breach could result in criminal prosecution. LBA broke those rules again in 2023 but the Council took no action. GALBA can reveal that LBA is on course to break the 2024 limit with days, and with nearly two months left of the summer season. We now expect the Council to take that action because LBA’s bosses have shown by their actions that they simply don’t care about the rules and cannot be trusted.”
“There’s no such thing as a ‘quiet’ passenger jet and there’s no such thing as ‘clean’ jet fuel. Every extra night flight means more harm to people’s health and more pollution, damaging our climate and the air we breathe. GALBA congratulates Leeds City Council for making a responsible decision that puts its residents and our environment first.”
NOTES
Demonstration: Leeds City Hall, 10am Friday September 13th – GALBA will join an international call for a ban on night flights – just as Leeds Bradford Airport breaks night flight rules for third year running. Local residents and campaigners against airport
expansion will join an international day of protest, calling for a ban on night
flights. Holding pillows, spelling out ‘NO MORE NIGHT FLIGHTS’ and wearing
pyjamas, they will gather in front of Leeds Civic Hall to highlight the damage that night time flying does to human health, air quality and the climate.
CLEUD applications: in December 2023, LBA resubmitted four applications for
Certificates of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) to Leeds City
Council. They asked the Council to reinterpret the meaning of the rules that limit
night time flying so as to allow a major rise in the number of night flights. In
March 2024 LCC rejected two of the four CLEUDS. In this latest decision, LCC has
rejected the remaining two CLEUDs.
Night flight rules: planning conditions impose a cap on the number of night time
flights allowed at LBA. Leeds City Council has responsibility for monitoring and
enforcing those conditions. They define the Summer Season as British Summer
Time, which was 26 March to 29 October in 2023 and 31 March to 27 October in
2024. The night time period is defined as 23:00 to 07:00 and an aircraft
movement is defined as a landing or a departure.
Night flight breaches: LBA broke those rules in the 2022 summer season and the
Council issued a breach of condition notice against LBA in June 2023. GALBA
monitored night flights from LBA in the 2023 and 2024 summer seasons and
found that LBA had broken the rules again. However, Leeds City Council took no
action over LBA’s rule breaking in 2023 despite upholding GALBA’s complaint.
Leeds Bradford Airport is big enough already