Opposing more night flights

A few people have emailed us about opposing more night flights and the airport's breach of their conditions, so we thought it would be helpful to outline where we stand.

Like you we live in the ward and can hear the planes at night. We care about this issue because of the public health impact and because of the principle that the planning conditions exist for good reason, and must be upheld.

We do not support any move towards unlimited night flights at Leeds Bradford Airport. The existing planning conditions should be upheld, and we'll support any legally sound action that prevents those limits being undermined. 

This has been our position consistently. For example, when the original CLEUD applications were submitted, we organised a public meeting with the airport’s Chief Executive so residents could challenge them directly and get greater transparency.

As a councillor, pushing for the maximum action and trying to keep people informed is the best role we can play.

We met with GALBA on the same day their new legal advice became available. Collectively we went through it to make sure we understood it, and pledged to share that legal advice directly with the head of Planning to get their view and try to see if we can get an understanding of where the advice differs - if it does.

The next step is to work proactively with the community, including civil groups like GALBA, to find a strategy for tackling night flights. The reason we say this is that the CLEUDs are decided purely on legal grounds, and over the last few years all enforcement and action has been hampered by LBA constantly making legal manoeuvres or challenging the decisions of the council in court.

We also strongly feel that these decisions really should be made at a national level. It’s ridiculous that this goes through the same processes as someone building an extension!

Councils should not be left to try and clear these things up through the constraints of the Planning system, it’s a massive public issue and deserves its own processes.

This is the latest we've received from the council, and beyond that we'll keep on this issue - including taking the action mentioned above:

“Thank you for contacting us regarding night-time flights at Leeds Bradford Airport and the matters raised in the legal advice circulated by the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA). We appreciate how important this issue is for many residents and understand the concerns about the impact of night-time aircraft movements on health and wellbeing.  We are however bound to follow a due process and cannot circumvent that as is being suggested by GALBA.

The current CLEUD application is inextricably linked to night-time flights, and it is just not the case that the council can simply, immediately and unilaterally approve new aircraft to fly from Leeds Bradford Airport.

As I’m sure you will be aware, Leeds City Council has previously refused Leeds Bradford Airport’s CLUED applications, and this was defended at Inquiry.

The Inspector at that Inquiry established contrary to the LPA’s (and formerly the LBA’s) interpretation that aircraft of QC 0.25 and below were not permitted by Condition 6(a) or(b) of the Permission to fly at night.  This means that all those aircraft are in breach of Planning Permission and also do not count towards the movement cap.

He did not however agree that LBA had 10 years of data (QC 0.25 only as per their 2025 CLEUD application) to prove they were immune from enforcement action.

This current live CLEUD is seeking to prove 10 years for flight data of all aircraft QC 0.25 and below (the 2025 one related only to QC 0.25).  The CLUED can only be assessed on factual evidence and not wider planning matters.

Through the Application, LBA is seeking to establish a robust baseline around night time flights and the Council has a statutory duty to assess the application. It is both important and appropriate the CLUED is determined prior to any consideration of aircraft that could potentially be authorised pursuant to Condition 6(c) as is being suggested by GALBA.

Therefore, we must await the outcome of the CLEUD assessment and have regard to the Council’s legal advice (rather than that provided by GALBA) before we know for sure the impact.

It’s additionally important to consider that this matter is not one any Councillor, as an individual nor group, to determine - and nor can any Councillor direct officers to reach a particular outcome.  These are legal matters that are taken by planning officers acting as the Local Planning Authority and are strictly based on the legal framework and the factual evidence available.”

We'll continue to share updates as things progress, including through our weekly email newsletter.