Airport aims to soar with £150m plan
Replacement terminal ‘is needed to attract more passengers and routes’
PLANS FOR a multi-million pound terminal at Leeds Bradford Airport to boost passenger numbers and attract new routes have been revealed in a move that has been heralded as vital to growing the region’s economy.
The Yorkshire Post can exclusively reveal that the airport is planning to demolish its existing terminal building and replace it with a new state-of-the-art facility that will cost as much as £150m and be based within the site’s current boundary.
Plans for the new terminal are due to be submitted to Leeds Council in the spring, with the airport’s management hopeful of starting construction this year and having it operational by 2023.
The planned new facility will span three floors and cover 365,972 sq ft, and during the construction phase the existing terminal will operate as normal and be demolished once the new hub is up-and-running.
The cost will be privately funded by the airport’s owners, AMP Capital, and the new terminal be located closer to the proposed Parkway station that would connect the airport to Leeds by rail.
The chief executive of Leeds Bradford Airport, Hywel Rees, told The Yorkshire Post: “It will be a transformation for Leeds Bradford Airport.
“If you look at the Leeds City Region and its position within the UK economy, it is the fourth biggest city region, but it has the 15th biggest airport.
“And the reason for that is the infrastructure of the airport.”
The current terminal building was built in 1968 and has, according to Mr Rees, “come to the end of its natural life”.
The airport, which already supports 7,200 jobs, is aiming to grow passenger numbers from the current four million to seven million by 2030. If this is successful, then the number of jobs supported by the airport is expected to swell to 12,000, although LBA bosses now believe that the current infrastructure will be insufficient to meet this ambition.
Mr Rees said that the key to growing passenger numbers lay in improving the number of routes it operates and that this would be impossible without an improved terminal.
“It all comes down to operational efficiency,” he said. “If customers do not want to use it as they get delayed on arrival because they have to get the bus (to the terminal), or if airlines do not want to use it because they can only arrive at a certain time of day, then that’s a problem.”
The plan is subject to planning, approval but has already received the support of Aviation Minister Paul Maynard. He said: “Leeds Bradford Airport is the global gateway to one of the most beautiful parts of the world, so it is vital passengers get the world class service this new terminal will provide.
“The new building will be more sustainable and efficient, helping the airport meet its net zero carbon emissions target by 2023, while boosting the local economy and securing thousands of jobs.”
Bosses claim that the new facility will enable the airport to meet its target of having net zero carbon emissions by 2023. It would also be the UK’s first new airport terminal to have been opened since Heathrow’s Terminal Two began operating in 2014.
THE BUSINESSMAN who bought BHS from Sir Philip Green for £1 before it collapsed has been ordered to pay £9.5m into the failed high street chain’s pension schemes after a failed appeal.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) said Dominic Chappell’s appeal against two contribution notices – first issued in January 2018 – to pay a total of £9,542,985 into the BHS’s pension schemes was struck out in its Upper Tribunal.
The watchdog said the decision means the BHS pensions scandal is “coming to a close” nearly four years after the retailer hit the wall, causing the loss of 11,000 jobs and leaving a mammoth pension deficit of more than £570m.
The regulator will now look to recover the money from Mr Chappell for the two schemes.
It comes two years after Sir Philip agreed to pump £363m in cash into the schemes to help save them from entering the Pensions Protection Fund, the Government’s pensions lifeboat.
Nicola Parish, TPR’s executive director of frontline regulation, said: “We are pleased that the decision to issue two contribution notices to pay money into the BHS pension schemes stands.
“This case illustrates how TPR is willing to pursue a case through the courts to seek redress for pension savers. It illustrates the situations our anti-avoidance powers were designed to meet and which allow us to protect the retirement incomes that savers deserve.”
It marks the latest headache for Mr Chappell, who was banned from running a company for 10 years by the Insolvency Service in November. He also faces a trial this year over an alleged £500,000 tax fraud, which he denies.
Mr Chappell – a former bankrupt – was the architect of Retail Acquisitions’ purchase of BHS four years ago.
When it first made the payments order against him, TPR concluded a series of acts were “materially detrimental” to the pension schemes, including the acquisition of BHS, the appointment of inexperienced board members, an inadequate business plan and the way money was extracted and distributed to Mr Chappell and others.
It also pursued legal action against Sir Philip in 2016 in a bid to force him to contribute to the pension schemes, but this was halted after his settlement.
Sir Philip owned BHS for 15 years before selling it to Mr Chappell, during which time the Green family and other shareholders are said to have collected £580m from the chain in dividend payouts, rental payments and interest on loans.