News Updates
March 09 2026
The Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA) has described the airport’s latest planning application, which aims to increase night time flying, as “irresponsible and cowardly”. They also called on Leeds City Council to intervene to resolve the dispute.
Nick Hodgkinson, Chair of GALBA, said: “The airport wants a huge increase in the number of night flights. That would be very bad news for local people, the air we breathe and the climate we all depend on. It’s deeply irresponsible and shows beyond doubt that LBA doesn’t give a hoot about its neighbours or the environment.”
“But this whole mess could easily be sorted out if the Council simply made it lawful for the disputed planes to fly at night. If they did that, the number of night flights by those planes would be limited, instead of there being no limit at all. We’ve asked the Council to do this twice but so far they’ve refused. We say they should do it without delay.”
“As for LBA’s boss, Vincent Hodder, instead of letting the elected representatives of local people decide whether to allow more night flights, he has chosen to use an obscure piece of law that cuts out councillors – and the public – from having any say in the final decision. The CLEUD will be decided by unelected Council bureaucrats.”
The process for assessing a CLEUD application involves consideration by a Council officer of factual and legal evidence only. The public cannot submit their opinions on whether the application should be approved and it will not go to a Planning Committee for a final decision.
Nick added: “It looks like Mr Hodder realised he could not win by putting his arguments against ours, so he’s chosen the cowardly way out. Councillors know a bad idea when they see one and we believe they would have rejected Mr Hodder’s desire to put LBA’s profits – and his bonus – over the health of local people and the environment.”
LBA’s application for a Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) has been published in full on Leeds City Council’s Planning Portal. It claims that the most commonly used types of planes at LBA have been flying at night unlawfully for 10 years, with no enforcement action taken by the Council to stop them. LBA argues that this means the rules that limit the number of flights allowed at night no longer apply to those planes. That would result in LBA being able to fly an unlimited number of night flights.
Ian Coatman, GALBA’s Secretary said: “LBA’s argument is like a burglar being able to say ‘I’ve been stealing for 10 years and I haven’t been caught, so now I can steal as often as I like forever and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop me’.”
“To be clear, no one is saying people should never take holidays abroad but frequent night time noise is harmful to the many thousands of people who live under the flight path. There’s plenty of medical research showing the impact of repeatedly disturbed sleep on heart health.”
“Some people say the airport has been there longer than local residents, so they should just put up with it. If you moved into a street with a pub on the corner, you couldn’t really complain about people coming and going. But if the pub changed into a night club, with loud noise all through the night, that would be a different matter. And this is what LBA is trying to do.”
People living under the flight path have sent GALBA their personal testimonies of how LBA’s night flights already affect their lives. Jodi, a doctor who lives in Kirkstall, explained: “We have a lot of disruption from the flights here… They start at six o’clock… we usually have them every ten minutes going through… and I don’t understand why we’re trying to increase flights while we’re in this climate emergency…”
LBA’s previous CLEUD applications, which also sought to reinterpret the meaning of the night flight rules, were rejected by Leeds City Council in 2024 and by a Public Inquiry in 2025.
Notes
Videos, personal statements and photo:
Health impacts: there is detailed evidence on GALBA’s website of the harm that would be done to local people from more night time noise and more air pollution.
Climate impact: there is more information on GALBA’s website about the damage that LBA expansion would do to the climate.
Economic claims: there is a critical examination of LBA’s claims about the alleged economic benefit of expansion on GALBA’s website.
CLEUD application: LBA’s new CLEUD is available on the Council’s Planning Portal. Enter Leeds Bradford Airport or 26/00926/CLE in the search box, the CLEUD is at the top of the list on the results page.
The CLEUD seeks to make certain types of planes immune from all enforcement action by Leeds City Council, even if they exceed the permitted number of night flights set by local planning conditions.
The basis for this is LBA’s claim that those types of planes have been flying unlawfully from LBA for a continuous period of 10 years (January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2019), with no enforcement action against them by Leeds City Council. If that is true, LBA argues that the CLEUD provisions, in effect, permanently exempt those planes from the cap on the number of permitted night flights.
The types of planes in question are those “with an EPNdB [noise rating] of less than 87”. These are the most frequently flown types of planes at LBA. However, the EPNdb noise rating is not the same as the QC noise rating that is used in the night flight planning conditions. GALBA is consulting with our lawyers to assess the legality of LBA’s application and GALBA is also assessing the factual claims made by LBA.
Leeds City Council’s assessment and decision making process: the decision whether the CLEUD is granted or not will be made by a Council officer, not elected councillors on the Planning Committee (the City Plans Panel). While a form of public ‘consultation’ will take place, the public cannot submit opinions or personal views on the possibility of an increase in night flights. Only factual and legal evidence relating to the 10 years in question is acceptable – the deadline is 25 March. There is more about the process on the Council’s website.
Leeds City Council’s power to approve the disputed planes: it is written into the current Planning Permission that the Council has the authority to approve the planes that are currently flying unlawfully at night. That would make night time flying by those planes lawful and also mean they would have to be counted towards the cap on night flights, thus limiting the number of flights at night, which is the intention of the night flight rules.
Despite requests from GALBA, the Council has so far refused to approve the planes in dispute, citing ‘legal advice’. GALBA’s own legal advice is clear that the Council can do this. GALBA has twice asked for a ‘lawyer to lawyer’ meeting to discuss the matter but has had no reply. We urge the Council to take this simple, cheap and effective step to put a stop to LBA’s CLEUD applications once and for all.
Previous CLEUD applications: there is more information about LBA’s previous applications for night flight related CLEUDs on GALBA’s website.
GALBA: is a group of concerned citizens from across West Yorkshire who successfully campaigned against a planning application by Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) to expand by three million passengers a year. More information about GALBA is available on our website: www.galba.uk
Leeds Bradford Airport is big enough already