Leeds residents living on a flight path have said they're 'not surprised' to hear Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) broke night-time flying rules last summer.
Leeds City Council announced on Tuesday (June 6) that following an investigation, it had determined there were 747 more night-time flights at LBA than it was allowed last summer. There were 3,667 night-time flights in summer 2022 - the cap on flights between 11pm and 7am is 2,920.
The council has served LBA with a breach of condition notice ordering it to stick to the limits that were agreed in 2007. For some residents living on flight paths in Cookridge and Horsforth, the news is very welcome.
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"Last summer it was awful," said John Stephens, 74, who lives on Carr Bridge Drive. "We felt it gradually got worse on a night so I wasn't surprised to hear they'd breached the limits.
"We didn't expect it to be by as many as nearly 800 though. I hear them taking off three or four times a night and it definitely bothers me and wakes me up.
"You can see the end of the runway from our back bedroom and it echoes right across the valley. It's a damn nuisance. There are families around here with young babies. They should be honouring their promises."
John's son Richard is terminally ill, and particularly struggles with flights waking him up. "I take morphine when I go to bed and that knocks me out through most of them but when it starts to wear off I get woken by planes landing from about 5am," Richard said.
"On a morning the noise is unbelievable, and once I wake up the pain hits me. Last summer it felt like it was getting earlier and earlier. We don't have triple glazing on our house to help block the noise. I love the airport and I know its good for the area but there is a point when it's difficult."
Leeds City Council said yesterday that LBA have put in measures since accepting they'd breached the rules to stop it from happening again. The airport will be monitored by the council to ensure they are complying with the rules - failure to comply could result in prosecution.
Richard Jones lives near Horsforth train station, and also said he and his family struggle with the noise. "We live right on the flight path so it is really irritating," he told LeedsLive.
"It wakes you up at two in the morning and you can't go back to sleep. Obviously we knew the house was on a flight path when we bought it but we didn't expect that level of continuous disruption.
"We did complain once about it. Towards the end of last summer it felt like there had been a big surge in the day and night, it was really busy.
"They feel like they're really low over the house. We want to have the windows open when it's hot in the summer but it's just too loud overnight and wakes us up even more so we can't."
Roger Cartwright lives slightly further over on Hillcrest Rise, and agreed that when the windows are open over summer the planes are more noticeable. "They're flying over at 2.30am in the morning on a regular basis - but it has always been like that so it doesn't bother me," he said.
"You hear two or three in a row sometimes, though it isn't as bad on Hillcrest. But they should be sticking to the rules."
Brian Dalgleish, 78, pointed out that people moving to the area know they're moving onto a flight path. "It doesn't bother me whatsoever and hasn't since we bought the house in 1986," he said, "we did notice a lot of flights last summer but it wasn't a nuisance.
"Nothing wakes me up so it's only a minor inconvenience for me. I wish I could hear trains from here as well!"
LBA said in a statement yesterday: "LBA apologises for accidentally exceeding its allocation of night flights in summer 2022 and we understand the impact that this has had on our neighbours. This was an accident that we have worked hard to put right.
"LBA accepts that we accidentally exceeded the permitted number of aircraft movements during the night period in Summer 2022. The airport will continue to work with Leeds City Council to ensure that conditions of the planning consent are understood by all parties and adhered to.
"LBA has introduced a series of controls to ensure future operations comply with the terms of the planning consent."
It added that the organisation facilitating flights to UK airports last summer was not fully aware of the restrictions and that technology recording night flight data wasn't doing it properly.
Vincent Hodder, Chief Executive Officer of Leeds Bradford Airport, said: “On behalf of LBA, I sincerely apologise for the airport exceeding the permitted number of night flights in Summer 2022. I want to reassure our local communities that actions have been taken quickly to address the problems that led to this error.
"These new controls, alongside our continued collaboration with Leeds City Council, will ensure that LBA will operate within the terms of its planning consent. The Summer 2023 schedules have already been adjusted with our airline partners to reflect the conditions and we are working with the Council to ensure that conditions of the planning consent are understood by all parties and adhered to.”
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