Leeds Bradford Airport campaigners call on Leeds Council leader to speak out against expansion plans

The Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA), who oppose plans to build a new terminal building and increase the number of flights, said new council leader James Lewis must show that he is "passionate" about the climate emergency.

A "state of the art" £150m terminal building was given conditional approval by councillors last month, but the plans will be discussed again this afternoon and campaigners said councillors would be within their rights to reject the application.

Writing about the new National Infrastructure Bank that is coming to Leeds, Coun Lewis said last week "we are passionate about the climate change agenda in Leeds".

Chris Foren, chair of GALBA, said: “Last week, Coun Lewis said ‘we’re passionate about the climate change agenda in Leeds’ and told us that new district heating networks will save 11,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases every year.

"That’s good but we wonder if Councillor Lewis understands that is the equivalent of just 92 return flights to Malaga.

"To put this into perspective, LBA wants 252 extra flights per week during the summer time. So the savings made in a year from the heating networks would be gone in less than three days.

"We’re asking Coun Lewis to show everyone how ‘passionate’ he is about climate change by adding his voice to the thousands of people calling for expansion to be stopped."

GALBA,