Leeds Bradford Airport expansion doomed to fail; it’s the wrong location – Michael Meadowcroft

WITH the departure of Leeds Bradford Airport’s latest chief executive, Hywel Rees, after only 20 months, it is a moment to look at the problems currently facing the airport.

The proposed new terminal rightly excites powerful responses for and against, and it raises fundamental questions on the prospects for the airport and, indeed, on the future of air travel itself.

The airport’s timing for its planning application for the terminal is, to say the least, unfortunate. It was not to know that it would drop onto the Leeds City Council’s mat just as the impact of the Covid pandemic was being realised.

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And, of course, the pandemic affects much more than planning considerations. The airport’s development depends crucially on the region’s economic health and measures to counter climate change.

Expansion plans have been drawn up for Leeds Bradford Airport.Expansion plans have been drawn up for Leeds Bradford Airport.
Expansion plans have been drawn up for Leeds Bradford Airport.

Taken as a package, they do not proffer an enticing vista of the future. Leeds Bradford Airport has always suffered from the handicap of being the second choice of site.

When in 1930 the Leeds and Bradford municipal authorities decided to establish an aerodrome they took advice from Sir Alan Cobham, the leading expert of the day. He recommended a large flat expanse on a plateau with clear approaches on all sides at Whinmoor on the eastern edge of Leeds.

Alas for the future, this was unacceptable to Bradford, and Cobham’s second candidate of Yeadon was chosen, equidistant from the two cities. Its accepted drawbacks of altitude and of its proximity to high ground have plagued the airport ever since.

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Its location has prompted an unusually critical comment on the current planning application from the city council’s own landscape team: “This is a very dominant building perched on a high plateau elevated some 31 metres above the surrounding predominantly rural landscape.

Plans to redevelop Leeds Bradford Airport continue to prompt much debate.Plans to redevelop Leeds Bradford Airport continue to prompt much debate.
Plans to redevelop Leeds Bradford Airport continue to prompt much debate.

“It is, by nature of its function, a very shining glass structure facing east and will stand out as an alien urban-type feature over a very large expanse.”

Planning matters are decided on planning grounds and not on commercial considerations but this trenchant criticism casts doubt on the opinion of Dr Anthony Whiteing, a transport specialist at Leeds University, who believes that the city council will have no choice but to approve the plans.

If this opinion is the case, it makes a mockery of a local council’s jurisdiction on plans affecting its environment and its citizens. The legitimate criticisms to the airport’s proposals are formidable and Leeds councillors should accept the objections.

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Even looking beyond the pandemic, any economic recovery is going to take some years and the vital imperative of 
the world attaining the international Paris Agreement target on climate change is casting a huge shadow over the future of air travel with its high carbon emissions.

Michael Meadowcroft was Liberal MP for Leeds West from 1983-87 and he is an honoary alderman of the city.Michael Meadowcroft was Liberal MP for Leeds West from 1983-87 and he is an honoary alderman of the city.
Michael Meadowcroft was Liberal MP for Leeds West from 1983-87 and he is an honoary alderman of the city.

There is no doubt that Leeds Bradford Airport must reduce its carbon emissions but its expansion will have the opposite effect. The airport has already recognised its immediate economic problem by planning to make 107 members of its staff – almost a quarter of its personnel– redundant.

Over my 25 years of working on electoral projects overseas I originally used the airport regularly to fly to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and London to connect with long haul flights to Africa and Asia. One after another all bar the Amsterdam flight disappeared as a commercial destination and I had to go to Manchester, including to get to the Middle East and Caucasus destinations.

Being realistic, if Jet2 were to cease to operate from Leeds Bradford, it is hard to see how the airport could survive. All that is left is its tourist traffic and Jet2 has admitted that it has been hit hard by Covid. Ryanair is similarly predicting a 95 per cent fall in traffic in February and March, and will have its first loss in 12 years. A further threat on the horizon is the development of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

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Once the perverse decision not to go ahead with a link to the nearby railway main line is reversed, it will be accessible from Leeds in little over half an hour. The inconvenience of getting to Leeds Bradford by public transport – with or without a shuttle bus to a new rail link – will be vivid.

What will be the future of air travel after the Covid pandemic?What will be the future of air travel after the Covid pandemic?
What will be the future of air travel after the Covid pandemic?

Over the years since it was privatised the airport management has won few friends. The practical hassles for passengers of drop-off charges, the lack of covered footways from the parking and the struggles to get from long-term parking have been regularly voiced in the press and have never been answered.

It is too late. It is time for the airport’s owners to stop and to take a long hard look at the broad future and to reconsider whether a new terminal, said to cost some £150m, can conceivably be justified when the prospects for air travel are far from assured.

Michael Meadowcroft was Liberal MP for Leeds West from 1983-87 and he is an honoary alderman of the city.

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