We have pasted below a good explanation of what's been happening with regards to night flights recently.
To help explain this and give the public a chance to be involved in this process, we have arranged a public meeting with the CEO of Leeds Bradford Airport, Vincent Hodder, on Thursday 5 October from 6.30-7.30pm.
Unfortunately all tickets for this meeting are now booked up, but we are live streaming the event on our Facebook page.
Or if you don't have Facebook you can still visit our page at 6.30pm to catch it
“In June, LCC as the planning authority served a Breach of Condition Notice on the airport and planning enforcement officers are continuing to monitor night-time flight data to check whether they are adhering to the Notice in relation to the BST period until the end of October. Separate to this, LBA have applied to DfT for ‘Level 3 Designation for Summer season night-time’ and the Council has been asked to comment by 29th September as a consultee. The focus of this application is to apply for an independent body (Airport Co-ordination Limited), to take responsibility for managing the night-time flight schedule, to optimise available slots. The non-aviation consultees on this application are limited and LCC are one, again officers are working on the response. Separate to the above, this week the Planning service received five Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD) applications from LBA. A CLEUD is a certificate granted by a local planning authority, such as the Council, which makes lawful a previously unauthorised use or development. Should the applications be approved, then certain types of flight – including delayed and emergency flights – could potentially no longer count towards Leeds Bradford’s night-time movements total. These applications need to be determined in 8 weeks and the regulations mean that CLEUD applications are dealt with by a local planning authority officer rather than elected members, and do not require public advertisement or consultation. The deadline for determination is 1st November”. We are working closely with planning officers on this application and have asked to be included in any working groups/consultation to discuss the proposals.
The council have also announced a call for evidence, read more here. We have received a lot of objections so far from residents and are collating all responses and concerns and these are being shared with council officers and council leadership. We will ensure that all council decision making takes into account the concerns raised with us as ward councillors.
We have asked for briefings and updates and will share as much information as we can as regularly as possible. LBA are obviously trying to circumvent the need for public consultation and the input of elected members representing their constituents' views. We are working with council leadership to ensure all comments are taken into account in any decision made.