Leeds Bradford Airport debate reveals Labour double standards – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Angus Skinner, Bramhope, Leeds.
The future of Leeds Bradford Airport continues to polarise public opinion.The future of Leeds Bradford Airport continues to polarise public opinion.
The future of Leeds Bradford Airport continues to polarise public opinion.

THE group opposed to plans to develop Leeds Bradford Airport keep citing the objections from several Labour MPs as if it somehow adds weight to their argument.

Yet, on the very same day LBA submitted its planning application, the 10 Labour local authorities in Greater Manchester announced they had agreed to loan £260m to Manchester Airport to support it through Covid.

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Senior Labour figures such as Sir Richard Leese and Mayor Andy Burnham were vocal in their support, highlighting the airport’s plan to grow to 50 million passengers a year as a critical part of the future success of Greater Manchester.

The future of Leeds Bradford Airport continues to prompt much debate.The future of Leeds Bradford Airport continues to prompt much debate.
The future of Leeds Bradford Airport continues to prompt much debate.

Yet not the slightest flicker of concern about this has been registered from the Labour MPs so opposed to LBA. Which is fascinating because it is their constituents that Manchester Airport is targeting.

There are already six million passengers from Yorkshire using Manchester Airport and this will need to grow to over 10 million in the future.

So on one hand they wish us to believe that LBA’s plans will contribute to a “catastrophe”, and on the other they appear to be looking the other way whilst their colleagues over the Pennines use public money to suck their constituents, the emissions and the economic benefits over to Manchester.

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Perhaps it’s time for Labour to agree a policy position on regional airports as opposed to taking completely contradictory views at two airports serving the same market?

From: Richard Butler, Micklethwaite Lane, Bingley.

A RECENT report by Leeds Council, supporting the expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport, argues that the ‘new’ climate targets imposed by the Government should be ‘implemented by national government and not by local councils’.

The council seems to be saying that, because these targets have been newly imposed by government, they can be ignored and can continue to use older less stringent targets for justifying the climate impact of the proposal.

This, surely, is an admission that the proposed expansion would not meet the climate targets holding at the time of completion in a few years time (when the Government’s targets will no longer be ‘new’) and that the airport would be out of date on day one of operations.

From: Elizabeth Martin, Hall Road, Leeds.

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HAVING read about the updating of Leeds Bradford Airport, it’s about time this happened. The airport is not fit for purpose with old dilapidated buildings and escalators that are broken down.

Yes, people will still want to fly on holiday or for business. Four million cannot be wrong.

From: Deborah Haley, Church Fenton.

MORE serious consideration should be given to Doncaster Sheffield Airport being the county’s main airport. It is owned by the Peel Group which is highly experienced and also controls Liverpool John Lennon Airport. If given the opportunity, it could be as successful as Manchester.

From: Geoffrey North, Shakespeare Road, Guiseley.

LAST weekend I was alerted to two warnings about the dangers of our actions on the planet.

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The first was an article in the latest Rotary magazine about the devastating effects that 
non-recyclable plastics are having. The second was Sir David Attenborough’s presentation on television concerning the release of carbon dioxide. Several voices are warning us all but who is taking comprehensive action to overcome these threats to our planet?

We need an ancillary organisation to the World Health Organisation, which deals primarily with human health, and establish a World Survival Organisation to deal with the planet’s future.

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