News Updates
November 05 2024
GALBA reveal that Leeds Bradford Airport has broken the night flight rules for the third year in a row
Today, the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA) has revealed that Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) has broken the rules that limit the number of night flights during the summer season for the third year running.
GALBA’s monitoring shows that there were 820 more flights at LBA than permitted by the rules between 31 March and 27 October this year. GALBA has made a formal complaint to Leeds City Council and written to all Leeds councillors today.
Nick Hodgkinson, chair of GALBA, said: “These rules exist to protect public health but LBA’s bosses clearly don’t care about rules – nor the airport’s neighbours, nor the climate. For the last two years, we have alerted Leeds City Council to the airport’s unlawful behaviour and in 2022, the Council issued a ‘breach of condition notice’. But they did nothing about LBA breaking the rules in 2023.”
“Is that going to happen again this year? It would make a mockery of Leeds City Council and let LBA get away with flouting the rules year after year after year. If it was me or you behaving like that, you can be sure we wouldn’t just be let off! GALBA has given the Council independent, industry standard data to prove LBA’s unlawful activity, so there’s no excuse for doing nothing again this year.”
“LBA talks about ‘sustainable’ growth but that simply isn’t possible with aviation. More flying means more greenhouse gases, causing more damage to the climate and more extreme weather. We’ve all seen the lethal consequences of climate change in the terrible floods in Spain. That’s why the government’s climate watchdog, the Climate Change Committee, has repeatedly said that airports must not be allowed to expand at this time.”
Andy Tait lives under the flight path and carried out GALBA’s monitoring. He said: “Not only has LBA’s management ignored the night flight rules, they’ve also ignored recent decisions by the Council which rejected LBA’s attempt to rewrite those rules.”
“Three out of LBA’s four CLEUD applications have been rejected but they’re carrying on as if nothing had happened! LBA’s boss, Vincent Hodder, is utterly shameless – you just can’t trust the man!”
“He says that his interpretation of the night flight rules is right. Well, he’s been proved wrong once by the Council and we’ll prove him wrong again at his appeal against the Council’s decisions. We’re looking to the public to help us raise the funds needed.”
Andy added: “Yesterday, Mr Hodder talked about 40 years of flying at the airport. I wonder if LBA’s boss back then ignored rules and disrespected local people like Mr Hodder does?”
To protect the health of people living under the flight path, planning conditions place strict limits on the number of take-offs and landings between 11pm and 7am. LBA’s cap for the 2024 summer season (corresponding to British Summer Time) was 2,920. GALBA monitored the number of night flights over this year’s summer season and found that LBA had exceeded the limit by mid-September.
Nicky Ford, a GALBA member who lives under the flight path, said: “Night time flying is bad news for anyone living under the flight path. The noise disturbance from these flights is a major cause of all kinds of serious health issues, such as heart disease. I’ve lived under the flight path for many years and it’s got a lot worse recently.”
”Jet engines also release ultra fine particles which pollute the air we breathe and are linked to lung diseases. That’s why there are rules – to protect the public. And of course, every extra unlawful night flight pumps out more greenhouse gas emissions, damaging our fragile climate when everyone knows we need to reduce those emissions as fast as possible.”
Notes
GALBA’s complaint: in the summer season 2024, LBA flew 3,740 planes at night – 820 more than allowed. A full copy of GALBA’s formal complaint to Leeds City Council is available here.
GALBA’s letter to Leeds councillors: a full copy is available here.
Night flight rules: LBA operates under a cap on night time flights under its planning conditions. Leeds City Council has responsibility for monitoring and enforcing those conditions. They define the Summer Season as British Summer Time, which was 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. The maximum number of night time aircraft movements in the Summer Season is set at 2,800 and in the Winter Season at 1,200.
Leeds City Council’s Breach of Condition Notice against LBA for 2022: Councillor Helen Hayden, then the Exec Member with responsibility for LBA, said: “If the Breach of Condition Notice (BCN) is not complied with this can escalate into summary prosecution that can be brought in the Magistrates’ Court for the offence of contravening a breach of condition notice.” The full statement is available here. However, despite confirming in writing to GALBA that LBA failed to comply with the BCN in the 2023 summer season, Leeds City Council chose to take no enforcement action.
CLEUD applications: in late 2023, LBA submitted four applications for Certificates of Lawful Existing Use or Development. These sought to show that LBA had been breaking the night flight rules for over ten years and therefore those rules had to be reinterpreted to allow LBA to continue as it had been behaving.
During 2024, Leeds City Council rejected three of the CLEUDs and did not make a decision on the fourth. GALBA understands that LBA has appealed to the Planning Inspectorate against the non-determination of the fourth CLEUD and against two of the rejected applications. At the time of writing, it is not clear whether LBA will appeal against the other rejection.
Key developments since 2022: you can find a brief summary of developments since 2022, including key issues in 2024, on GALBA’s website.
Leeds Bradford Airport is big enough already