LBA has applied to Leeds City Council to abolish the cap on the number of night flights allowed at LBA. The airport also wants to change the unrestricted daytime hours from 7am-11pm to 6am-11.30pm. Those changes would mean a huge increase in flights, harming the health & wellbeing of local people, polluting the air we breathe and damaging the climate we all depend on. TOGETHER, WE CAN STOP THIS!
What are the existing rules?
There are currently local planning conditions that define ‘night time’ at LBA as 11pm to 7am. The conditions also put a simple cap on the total number of night flights (landings and take-offs) permitted during the winter and summer seasons: 1,200 in the Winter Season, 2,920 in the Summer Season and 941 per year as a result of the CLEUD awarded in May 2026. In effect, LBA can make 3,741 night flights in the summer.
The rules exist to protect the public and the environment from the harmful effects of aircraft noise and emissions. Leeds City Council has sole responsibility for monitoring and enforcing those conditions.
What does LBA want?
LBA now wants to abolish the night flights cap, replacing it with an annual ‘noise quota’, which would work like this. Every individual plane has a noise ‘quota count’ (QC) number, with lower numbers meaning the planes are relatively quieter.
However, there is still no such thing as a truly quiet jet engine!
LBA’s planning application wants the ‘noise quota’ to be set at 1,450 per year, which would mean LBA is permitted to fly at night:
Here’s the most important bit
The latest generation of planes at LBA are a mixture of QC0.25 and QC0.125. So if half the planes flown at LBA are QC0.25 and the other half are QC0.125, then LBA would be allowed 8,700 flights at night over the year.
There are fewer night flights in the Winter Season (about 1,000), so the majority of LBA’s 8,700 night flights would be in the Summer Season. The current limit on summer night flights is 3,741 but if LBA gets its way, that would rise to 7,700 – more than double the current numbers!
What else does LBA want?
LBA also wants to extend the definition of daytime by 90 minutes, changing it from 7.00-23.00 to 6.00-23.30. That means two important things:
LBA has also mentioned paying for improved noise insulation for some people in some areas but has not said where or what kind of insulation.
Remember: this would only reduce noise for people while they stay inside with their doors and windows closed in the summer. And it would do nothing to reduce the extra greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution from the additional planes.
Photo by Neil Terry
Who will decide whether to allow LBA’s application?
A committee of Leeds councillors on the West Plans Panel will decide whether to allow LBA’s plan for a huge increase in night time flying.
The councillors come from Otley & Yeadon, Horsforth, Weetwood, Kirkstall, Alwoodley, Roundhay, Seacroft, Harewood and Morley North. You can find the names and contact details for all the councillors on this committee on the Council’s website.
Even if you don’t live in one of these wards, it’s still important to tell your local councillors what you think. You can find contact details for all Leeds councillors on the Council’s website.
What you can do now
If you live in Leeds, let your councillors know that you don’t want the Council to allow LBA to make more night flights. You don’t have to be an expert, just tell them that you oppose expansion of LBA and explain why – eg noise, pollution, climate.
More night flights would blight local communities and pollute our environment!
We’ve produced fact sheets on the impact of noise on human health, frequent night time noise and health, the climate damage that LBA’s plans would cause and a critical look at LBA’s economic claims. Feel free to use these in your email to councillors or share the links from our website.
What you can do next
Whether you live in Leeds or elsewhere, you will soon be able to send a formal objection against LBA’s application to the Leeds Planning Department. We’ll update this page and explain how to make a formal objection soon – it’s not difficult and it is important.
We’ll also explain what to do in our newsletter to members, so please make sure to check your inbox (and your spam folder) for GALBA’s updates. If you’re not already a GALBA member, you can join by filling in this form. It’s quick and there’s no membership fee.
Councillors on the West Plans Panel will not be allowed to make any comments on LBA’s plans (f they do, they could be barred from taking part in the decision) but other councillors, who are not on the West Plans Panel, can still reply to your emails. They might say they can’t do anything about the application because they’re not on West Plans Panel but it’s still important to tell them what you think.
Make sure you tell your Leeds councillors to Keep the Cap on night flights and keep night time as 11pm to 7am.
How does LBA compare to the UK’s biggest airport, Heathrow?
Cap on the numbers of flights allowed at night:
Flight numbers cap and/or quota count:
A noise quota count can incentivise relatively quieter planes but without a cap it would allow a major rise in night flights. That’s why Heathrow has both a noise quota count and a cap.
No fly times at night:
TOGETHER, WE CAN STOP LBA’S EXPANSION PLAN!
Leeds Bradford Airport is big enough already