3/11/22, 6:53 PM Leeds Bradford Airport expansion plans approved - BBC News

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England Local News Regions Leeds & West Yorkshire

Leeds Bradford Airport expansion plans

approved
12 February 2021

PRESS HANDOUT

MPs, councillors, town councils and climate scientists had urged Leeds City Council to reject the airport's
expansion plans

Plans to expand Leeds Bradford Airport by building a new terminal have

been approved despite objections.
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3/11/22, 6:53 PM Leeds Bradford Airport expansion plans approved - BBC News
bee app o ed desp te object o s.

The proposals, which will cost around £150m, have caused controversy since
they were first outlined in 2020.

Objectors told councillors the plans would facilitate climate change, while
those in favour said the expansion would offer major economic benefits.

The airport has set a target of 2023 for opening the new terminal building.

The plans also involve the demolition of existing buildings and the creation of
the support infrastructure for the new terminal building.

More Yorkshire stories

The airport handles about four million passengers annually and has already
been granted permission to increase that to seven million over a 10-year-
period.

Airport chairman Andy Clarke said: "Our scheme will provide significant
improvements, benefits to the regional economy and an improved passenger
experience."

In July 2020, a group of climate scientists warned the expanded airport's

greenhouse gas emissions would be higher than those allowed for the whole
of Leeds in 10 years' time.

GALBA

Campaigners had urged councillors to reject the scheme

Supporters have said that without the expansion passengers would be forced
to drive to other airports, transferring the emissions elsewhere.
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3/11/22, 6:53 PM Leeds Bradford Airport expansion plans approved - BBC News

However, one objector dismissed that suggestion at the meeting.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Leeds University

climate scientist Jefim Vogel said: "It is like road-building, you build another
road and there will be more cars on the road overall. Airport expansion drives
demand for flights."

Flight path to expansion unclear

It's not clear how the Leeds airport expansion plans will play out, and how
they will fit with national policy.

The government's advisory Climate Change Committee says emissions from

aviation must not be allowed to grow, so every expansion in capacity must be
compensated by a contraction in passenger numbers elsewhere.

Ministers are considering the advice and preparing a new clean aviation
strategy later in the year. But their thinking is far from clear.

On the one hand they say: "Airport growth has a key role to play in boosting
our global connectivity and levelling up in the UK." That sounds pro-aviation.

But on the other hand they say: "The government takes seriously its
commitments on the environment - and the expansion of any airport must
always meet its climate change obligations."

Who knows how will this apparent contradiction be resolved? Watch this
airspace.

One of those speaking in favour, Gerald Jennings, from the West and North
Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said: "We are the largest economy outside
London, but we have a third-rate airport- what message does that send out to
people outside?"

Speaking after the decision was approved, Group for Action on Leeds Bradford
Airport (GALBA) said it would continue to fight the expansion plans and said
the council had "put itself on the wrong side of history" and the decision was
"legally flawed".
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3/11/22, 6:53 PM Leeds Bradford Airport expansion plans approved - BBC News

Leeds City Council said the approval was subject to some conditions and
changes and, once agreed, the plans would be referred to the government for
a final decision.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story
ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.

More on this story

Climate scientists oppose airport Airport plans new £150m

expansion plans terminal building

20 July 2020 15 January 2020

Leeds Bradford Airport link road Protesters stage 'die-in' over

plans scrapped airport expansion

20 December 2019 11 September 2019

Airport plans for £12m expansion

14 September 2018

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3/11/22, 6:53 PM Leeds Bradford Airport expansion plans approved - BBC News

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Leeds Bradford Airport

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Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport

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