Astonished and angry at Leeds Bradford Airport claims that planning application is not about expansion - YEP letters

Nick Hodgkinson, Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA)

He says: “LBA’s planning application is not about expansion.” Has he forgotten what’s in his own application? It states quite clearly that LBA wants to increase from four million passengers per year in 2019 to seven million in 2030.

Mr Rees avoided any mention of the fact that he also wants to increase daytime flying hours, allow more planes to take off early in the morning and late at night and remove the overall limit on the number of flights permitted at night. That would mean more greenhouse gases, more noise, more air pollution and more traffic congestion.

Read the original opinion piece: Leeds Bradford Airport plan is about modernising not expanding - Hywel ReesThe airport is required by law to publish an Environmental Statement (ES) as part of its planning application, to show what harm would result from expansion. The ES is clear that LBA needs the council’s permission to expand to seven million passengers. For example: “This section considers the potential future impact of Leeds Bradford Airport under two different scenarios:

- Without development – whereby the airport continues operating its existing terminal building with no major capacity enhancements, which is estimated to have a maximum capacity of around 5.5 million passengers per annum;

- With development – closure of the existing terminal building in 2024 and the opening of a new passenger terminal capable of handling up to seven million passengers per annum.”

(See ES, Vol 2 Appendix: Socio Economic Assessment, on p68, para 6.1)

Ask yourself: why would Mr Rees not be open with you? Maybe because he does not want you to understand that his planning application would cause LBA’s greenhouse gas emissions to double in 2030. The International Panel on Climate Change has warned that our opportunity to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown is likely to end in 2030. Mr Rees wants his greenhouse gas emissions to double in 2030.