GALBA will fight the airport “tooth and nail”

Campaigners vow to fight airport’s new night flights expansion plan and calls on Council to allow the public to have a say

The Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA) has vowed to fight the airport’s latest planning application “tooth and nail”.

Responding to the news that LBA has submitted another CLEUD application, the group’s chair, Nick Hodgkinson, said: “We were expecting this and we’re well prepared to fight off yet another attempt by the airport to rewrite the rules that limit night time flying.”

”We’ve gained hundreds of new members in the past few months and together we will stop LBA from making local lives a misery. The airport’s boss has tried to change the night flight rules twice before and lost both times – we’ll make sure it’s a hat trick of defeats!”

“The airport’s plan for a huge increase in the number of night flights would be very bad news for local people, the air we breathe and the climate we all depend on. GALBA will fight this application tooth and nail.”

On Tuesday, it was reported that LBA had been in discussions with Leeds City Council and decided to make a new application for a Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD). LBA’s previous CLEUD applications, also seeking to reinterpret the meaning of local night flight rules, were rejected by the Council in 2024 and by a Public Inquiry in 2025.

Ian Coatman, GALBA’s Secretary said: “So far, the Council hasn’t published any details of the application but we know what LBA wants – massively more night flights. This is despite the mountains of well researched medical evidence that night time noise and air pollution harm human health. And, of course, more greenhouse gases would be disastrous for the planet.”

In a letter published on the Leeds Planning Portal, Leeds City Council has stated that “these types of applications [CLEUDs] are not subject to consultation”. It is unclear if this means the public will not be invited to make any comments at all on LBA’s application.

Ian Coatman said: “We know for a fact that the Council can choose to invite factual and legal comments from the public. We know this because it’s exactly what they did with LBA’s previous CLEUD applications. They should do it again – this is a matter of very high public interest.”

NOTES

Previous CLEUD applications: there is more information about LBA’s previous applications for night flight related CLEUDs here.

Human health impacts: there is detailed evidence of the harm that would be done to local people from more night time noise and more air pollution.