Leeds Bradford Airport decision is vote of no confidence as £150m plan for eco-friendly new terminal scrapped – The Yorkshire Post says

Few, if any, schemes in Leeds have attracted as much conjecture as this application from supporters saying it represents a vote of confidence in Yorkshire to environmentalists who want more curbs on aviation to offset climate change.

Leeds Bradford Airport: New terminal building plan scrapped following ‘excessive’ Government delays

Inevitably, these conflicting arguments were going to dominate a public inquiry that will not now be necessary after the airport aborted the expansion plan in order to prioritise the revamping of the existing Yeadon terminal.

What remains to be seen, however, is the validity of objections on environmental grounds when Britain intends to each ‘jet zero’ status by 2050 as new technology is developed to limit carbon emissions from aircraft – air travel is here to stay.

This needs to be set against the wider ramifications for a region that is already at risk of becoming a transport backwater after the Government downgraded Northern Powerhouse Rail – a high-speed line across the Pennines – and put on hold plans to build the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds.

With the owners of Leeds Bradford Airport now deciding that it makes greater financial sense to pursue a ‘make do and mend’ approach when they realise that the complaints about poor facilities are fully justified, the risk is that passengers travel to Manchester for overseas trips – or other airports where expansion plans have been viewed more favourably because of the positive economic spin-offs.

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