No action over Leeds Bradford Airport night flight breaches

Leeds Bradford Airport breached night flight rules in summer 2022 and 2023, the council says

No legal action will be taken against Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) despite it having breached night flight rules for a second summer, a council has said.

Leeds City Council said while too many flights had run outside regular hours again last summer, the "public interest test" for a prosecution was not met.

However, the council said it had rejected LBA's requests for further night flights in the coming summer.

LBA boss Vincent Hodder said he was "disappointed" by that decision.

A breach of condition notice was originally issued by Leeds City Council to LBA in June last year after an investigation found it had exceeded the number of permitted night-time movements by 25% during the 2022 summer season.

As part of this notice, the airport agreed to not operate more than 2,920 night flights between 23:00 BST and 07:00 BST during future summer seasons.

However, the number of night flights at LBA during the 2023 summer season was 3,497, the council has confirmed.

Ian Coatman has asked when will the council "actually take some action?"

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said it had concluded that the airport had not complied with the notice.

However, they added: "The council does not consider that the public interest test for bringing a prosecution in relation to the non-compliance has been met at this time."

Campaigner Ian Coatman, from Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport, told the BBC the decision showed a threat of prosecution "has had absolutely no effect whatsoever".

"The threat didn't work in 2023, so what makes them think it will work in 2024?" he asked.

"The answer to that is it will not, so effectively the council has given the airport a green light to break night time rules for the third year running."

He added: "The question is how long is this going to go on for until they actually take some action and enforce the rules that exist?"

Vincent Hodder, LBA's CEO, said he was disappointed at the council's decision over more night flights for summer 2024

Reacting to the rejection of LBA's requests for more night flights in summer 2024, Mr Hodder, the airport's CEO, said: "We remain confident in our legal opinion of the planning conditions and will be considering what this means for the airport and the appropriate next steps.

"The two applications relate to a relatively small proportion of night movements and we do not anticipate this will result in a material change to the operation of the airport.

"We will continue to work with the council as it evaluates the remaining two applications in the hope of reaching a suitable outcome that continues to support the positive impact Leeds Bradford Airport has to the region and our local communities."