A PROMINENT environmental campaigner has slammed Leeds City Council plans not to halt a planned expansion to Leeds Bradford Airport.

Nick Hodgkinson, who has consistently been lobbying the authority to put in stricter environmental measures, has claimed the council’s decision not to follow recommendations from its influential climate change jury was ‘disappointing’.

It follows suggestions from the jury that Leeds City Council should not support the planned expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport, due to the environmental impact such a move could have.

But a draft response from the council, discussed this week by the authority’s climate emergency advisory committee, stopped short of supporting the suggestion. It instead points out a national strategy was needed to control emissions from airports over the coming years, adding the airport was important to the city’s economy.

More detail of £150 million Leeds Bradford Airport expansion revealed

While praising the council for recognising the danger posed by climate change, Mr Hodgkinson said such an expansion would worsen climate change.

Mr Hodgkinson, who suffers from motor neurone disease, wrote in a statement: “It’s very disappointing that the council has rejected the jury’s recommendation to stop expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport.

“Leeds Climate Commission has warned that as carbon is cut in other sectors, emissions from planes using the airport would be higher than emissions from the whole of the rest of Leeds by 2026.

“The council has publicly accepted that increasing flying is ‘fundamentally incompatible’ with reaching zero carbon until flying itself can be made zero carbon. But new technologies for

planes and zero carbon jet fuels won’t be commercially available for many, many years.

Mr Hodgkinson referred to the high court’s recent ruling against a third runway at Heathrow Airport, adding: “If the council won’t listen to its own citizens jury, it will have to listen to the courts.

“The key issue was the damage that airport expansion would do to the environment. Expanding LBA would obviously make the climate emergency worse – the council cannot ignore this fact.”

The Leeds Climate Change Jury was set up following Leeds City Council’s climate emergency declaration last year, and saw 25 members of the public meet to discuss what Leeds needed to do to help tackle climate change, while listening to academic experts in the field.

The group has sent a report containing 11 recommendations back to Leeds City Council, among which were the introduction of an Oyster card-style universal public transport payment system, the retro-fitting of houses to be energy efficient and investment funds to encourage green industry.

A response from Leeds City Council to Mr Hodgkinson’s statement read: “We have listened to recommendations and the consultation responses that we received and, as a result, the council has recognised that planned national growth for aviation is incompatible with the UK’s targets to become carbon-neutral until such time as new technologies are developed.

“Additionally, we have listened to feedback from residents about the surface access strategy and will not be progressing proposals for a nearby link road.

“We share the view expressed by the Leeds Climate Commission that a revised national aviation strategy is crucial for reducing the growing demand for aviation.

“Seven in ten flights taken by Leeds residents take place from other airports. Focussing on growth at Leeds Bradford Airport alone—independently of a national strategy—would not address these emissions, and would run the risk of simply exporting the carbon footprint of Leeds’ airline passengers to other areas.

“That is why the council is pressing the government to include the impact of aviation in national carbon reduction targets. The council is keen to participate in any national discussions about a revised Aviation Strategy with the aims of distributing aviation share across the country in a way that minimises carbon emissions and promotes an economic rebalancing of the regions.

“The council will continue to raise awareness of the need to act in line with the climate emergency, encouraging residents to travel more sustainably and to offset their own emissions.”