Airport development delayed to allow ‘more consideration’

A DECISION on a £150 million development plan for Leeds Bradford Airport has been delayed to give Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick further time to consider the proposal.

The controversial plan for a new terminal was approved by councillors in Leeds earlier this year, but this decision has been referred to Mr Jenrick, who now has the final say on whether to “call-in” the proposal and hold a public inquiry.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said on Tuesday that an Article 31 Direction has been issued to allow time for

“proper consideration” of the requests for the plan to be called-in.

The proposed development has starkly divided opinion between those who see it is a crucial plank of economic development planning in the Leeds City Region and those who have cast it as a test case for the Government’s environmental credentials in relation to air policy.

The airport insists the new terminal is not an expansion, as it can already expand passenger numbers with its existing facilities, and that the replacement building will help it achieve its carbon net-zero goals.

But Greenpeace UK’s head of politics, Rebecca Newsom, said on Tuesday: “If true, pausing the plans is a sign that the Government is starting to clock the catastrophic impacts of this proposed expansion.

“But we’re just months away from hosting critical global climate talks, and this climate-wrecking mega project is clearly incompatible with our plans to cut emissions, so why only delay the decision and not just call it in now? Quashing the expansion plans before the global climate summit begins would be a real show of climate leadership.”

It is a situation reminiscent of the controversy over Bristol Airport’s expansion.

The public inquiry into its expansion plans will open on July 20 and is scheduled to sit for 16 days.

The airport appealed against a decision by North Somerset Council last year to reject its expansion plans which would see passenger numbers grow from 10 million to 12 million a year.

Bristol City Council has also opposed the expansion with North Somerset Council saying it will ‘robustly defend’ the appeal.