Image courtesy of Mark Winterbourne

There is concern that this Summer has seen an increased level of aircraft noise. There is also concern about plans to increase the size of the airport and alter flight paths so that more aircraft would fly over north west Leeds at low altitudes. These plans appear inconsistent with planning conditions which require Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) to minimise the impact of aircraft on the city’s built up areas.

Under the proposals, aircraft taking off to the south east would ascend more gradually than they do at present, and would then continue in a straight line over north west Leeds and Leeds city centre (rather than turning right as most do now). This would result in increased aircraft noise in an area stretching across north west Leeds, Leeds city centre and Belle Isle. This would affect many homes and places where people congregate such as Beckett Park, Meanwood Park, Woodhouse Ridge, Woodhouse Moor and Leeds city centre. Leeds General Infirmary would also be affected.

LBA has said that it will be submitting its proposals to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in October 2018. The CAA then has 16 weeks to decide whether or not to approve them. So if people wish to comment, they should email the CAA at airspace.policy@caa.co.uk by the 21st January 2019 at the very latest, and also contact LBA’s CEO david.laws@ilba.com. If the CAA approves the proposals, LBA has said that they will be implemented in Spring 2019.

As this article shows, the CAA does take heed of people’s concerns. Just this week, it rejected similar proposals from Edinburgh Airport.