Leeds Bradford Airport expansion decision date announced as campaigners welcome support from Imran Hussain, MP Bradford East.
With a decision on LBA’s planning application just over a week away, the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA) has welcomed a clear statement of opposition to airport expansion from the MP for Bradford East, Imran Hussain. In a newsletter sent yesterday to members of Bradford East Labour Party, Mr Hussain said airport expansion would “have a devastating effect on our environment and climate obligations.”
He also said: “LBA have also decided to push through over 100 job losses, undermining their argument for expansion, and so I have been calling on Leeds City Council … to reject the planning application for this extension in order to protect our environment and to ensure that mass redundancies are not rewarded.”
Chris Foren, chair of GALBA, said: “We now know that a decision on LBA’s planning application will be made on 11 February. We hope that Leeds Labour councillors on the City Plans Panel realise that airport expansion cannot be allowed. Imran Hussain has joined Naz Shah and all five Leeds Labour MPs - Alex Sobel, Hilary Benn, Rachel Reeves, Richard Burgon and Fabian Hamilton - in publicly opposing LBA’s planning application. They all understand that we have the duty and the opportunity to protect our climate and that we urgently need to help people move out of high carbon industries into safe and sustainable jobs.”
Chris added: “It would be plane crazy to allow the airport to double its greenhouse gas emissions in the middle of the climate emergency. Scientists all over the world are urging us to cut emissions as fast as we can. We have the power to tackle the climate crisis by making the right choices now.”
Additional notes:
1) Photo: a photo of young people holding a GALBA banner is below.
3) Climate science: the Leeds Climate Commission and other experts in climate science from Leeds University have calculated that LBA’s proposals mean greenhouse gas emissions from the airport would double in the next 10 years and exceed the amount allowed for the whole of Leeds, as set out in the Leeds Carbon Reduction Roadmap, from 2026 onwards. See the report here.
4) Decision day: a decision on LBA’s planning application by the Leeds City Plans Panel will be made on Thursday 11 February.