Leeds Bradford Airport expansion to be completed by winter 2026
The expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) is set to be completed in winter 2026 as it prepares to enter the second phase of work.The extension of the existing terminal is expected to be finished by summer 2025.The second phase of the development, which has just been granted permission, is the refurbishment of the current terminal by winter 2026.Vincent Hodder, chief executive of LBA said it was "the first major improvement to our terminal since its opening in1968 and is long overdue".
He added: "It's vitally important to upgrade LBA to the world-class facility Yorkshire deserves."LBA also announced that the contract to complete the upgrade would be awarded to Northern Irish firm Farrans Construction.Cathal Montague, its regional director, said: "Leeds is an important region for our business."We are all frequent users of LBA and we are looking forward to working together with the airport's team on the successful delivery of the next stage of the project."
By 2025, LBA said it expected to contribute a total of £460m to the local economy, directly employing 2,100 people and indirectly supporting 4,500 jobs.Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer and MP for Leeds West and Pudsey, previously opposed expanding LBA but has since changed her mind and stated "the way we fly has changed". She has since backed a third runway at London Heathrow and the reopening of Doncaster Sheffield Airport.This led to activists from the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA) to protest outside Ms Reeves' constituency office. The Chancellor had justified her U-turn by saying planes now ran on 'sustainable' aviation fuels (SAF).But GALBA chair Nick Hodgkinson said: "I'm sorry to say that claim does not stand up to scrutiny. "While SAF can be made from waste matter, there is a very limited supply of genuinely sustainable feedstock to make it."LBA aims to become a net-zero carbon airport by 2030.Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
3 hours ago
- Scotsman
Newbridge office block to be transformed into new dental surgery after plans appoved
An empty office block near Edinburgh Airport is set to be transformed into a new dental centre, after plans submitted by a Northern Irish company were approved. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Belfast-based New Life Teeth applied to the council in April for a change of use from offices to dental surgery comprising the centre part of the building and the east wing at 35 Eastfield Road, Ingliston, situated between Edinburgh Airport and Glasgow Road. The application site is a single storey 'U shaped' former farmstead building that has been historically converted into offices with associated parking. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad At a time when residents in Edinburgh have been struggling to get onto Capital dental surgeries' patients' lists, this new addition just outside the city is sure to be welcomed by locals. The former office block in the converted farmhouse at Ingliston will soon be transformed into a new dental surgery. | Google Maps The plans were approved on Friday, May 30, with the council's chief planning officer David Givan stating: 'In terms of the principle of the proposal, a change of use, the proposed change from an office to a dental surgery would not constitute development by virtue of the proposed use being within the same use class as the existing. 'The external works are of modest sizes and scales and their installation would not have a detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the application site or the surrounding area. The proposed materials are also acceptable. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'There are no material considerations that outweigh the decision to grant permission in accordance with the Development Plan.' This application will see no change to the vehicular entrance or car parking at the site. Minor alterations to the facades will be carried out to provide ventilation grills. Internally, the formation of stud walls will be added to form a dental surgery providing surgeries, recovery rooms, offices and stall accommodation on the first floor of the east wing. Mechanical ventilation will be installed also. The plans show seven consultation rooms, an x-ray room, office space, toilet facilities, a reception area and three recovery rooms on the ground floor. With a meeting room, break out space, kitchen and changing room on the first floor of the east wing of the building. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The development to which this permission relates must begin no later than the expiration of three years beginning with the date on which this permission was granted. The council's online planning portal received no comments on this application.
New Statesman
3 hours ago
- New Statesman
Britain's fiscal doom loop
Labour entered office promising a 'decade of national renewal'. Keir Starmer's premiership, it was said, would be defined by landmark pledges such as building 1.5 million new homes by the end of the parliament and halving violence against women and girls. Yet almost a year on, ambition is colliding with reality. Rachel Reeves' Spending Review, which she will deliver on 11 June, threatens new cuts to unprotected departments including the Home Office, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It is not only cabinet ministers such as Angela Rayner who are warning that the government's pledges will prove impossible to meet without greater funding. Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, has spoken of the 'scar tissue of years of austerity'. Along with the heads of MI5 and the National Crime Agency, he warned that without the 'necessary resources' from the Spending Review, the decision to release more prisoners early could be 'of net detriment to public safety'. Ms Reeves and the Treasury insist that any talk of a return to austerity is unjustified. The Chancellor did – commendably – use her first Budget to loosen the government's fiscal rules for capital spending. An additional £113bn will be invested in infrastructure projects such as a new Manchester-Liverpool rail link. But she remains trapped in her own fiscal straitjacket. First, in an attempt to achieve market confidence, she vowed to eliminate the current budget deficit by the third year of the forecast period rather than the fifth. Second, to maintain voter confidence, she reaffirmed Labour's pledge to freeze income tax, VAT, National Insurance (on employees) and corporation tax for the duration of the parliament. Both sets of policies are now hindering rather than helping the government. As Isabelle Mateos y Lago, chief economist at BNP Paribas bank, has warned, the strictness of Ms Reeves' rules 'damages the UK's credibility because they have to hurt themselves so much to meet them'. The Chancellor's supposed iron discipline has already been undermined by the government's planned U-turn on winter fuel payment cuts and the anticipated abolition of the two-child benefit cap. Rather than announcing other undeliverable cuts, Ms Reeves should adopt a more realistic time scale over which to balance the books. She must also review her approach to taxation. At her first Budget she raised taxes by £41.5bn, including a rise in National Insurance on employers from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent, and introduced a panoply of wealth taxes: the abolition of non-dom status, VAT on private school fees, higher capital gains tax and increased inheritance tax for agricultural properties. But after a decade of austerity and stagnant economic growth, this was never likely to prove sufficient. Labour cannot fund the renewal of the public realm simply by relying on higher taxes on business and the wealthy. Instead, it must achieve a more resilient tax base of the kind seen in social democratic Europe. Though the overall tax take is at a postwar high, the average tax on labour income in the UK is among the lowest in the developed world (31st out of 38 OECD nations). A British employee on the average salary takes home more of their pay than an average-wage employee in the US, Canada, Japan or anywhere in western Europe. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Ms Reeves has ample grounds for arguing that the facts have changed. Donald Trump's election as US president has necessitated higher UK defence spending and led to renewed global instability, as he imposes the biggest tariffs since the 1930s. As the Strategic Defence Review made clear, the UK will need to go much further. The Defence Secretary, John Healey, declared in an interview with the Times that there was 'no doubt' Britain would spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence 'in the next parliament'. Yet in a symptom of the UK's fiscal bind, he was later forced to downgrade this pledge to an 'ambition' – an equivocation that will dismay allies and cheer adversaries. Labour's fiscal approach leaves it lacking the confidence of both the markets and the public (it now trails Nigel Farage's Reform UK by eight points). Mr Starmer's landslide victory a year ago reflected a profound desire for change among voters. If he and his Chancellor appear incapable of providing it, the electorate will look elsewhere. [See also: Dickens's Britain is still with us] Related
Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
'Rachel Reeves wants to change the tune - and it's not all about Reform'
After a drumbeat of gloomy stories about spending cuts, today Rachel Reeves sought to change the tune. Her story is of a Labour government pouring billions of pounds into towns and cities outside London, making it easier for ordinary Brits to get good jobs, afford their own homes and start businesses. At a bus factory in Rochdale, she began to sketch this out with a £15.6billion package to overhaul creaking transport systems in the North and Midlands, improving people's daily lives, and attracting investment and jobs. There will be more details to come in next week's Spending Review but today's announcement was a statement of intent. It was a message to voters still unsure of Labour's vision for Britain and ground down by years of broken promises. But it was also a message to Labour MPs and ministers. She fired off a warning to Cabinet ministers still battling for more cash from the Treasury for their departments, saying they won't "get everything they want". And she insisted her strict fiscal rules were non-negotiable in a blow to MPs who have urged her to change course. Next week's Spending Review is going to be difficult, with cuts looming for unprotected departments like the Home Office and the Ministry of Housing to plug the gap after major cash boosts for health and defence. So Ms Reeves is offering them something else. Spades in the ground and cranes in the sky can help MPs to face down Nigel Farage's Reform, who are on the march in Labour's heartlands, capitalising on voter mistrust. Mr Farage looms large over politics at the moment - but this isn't all about him (despite what he might say). The Chancellor, who is a Leeds MP, has long wanted to rip up the rules holding back an investment boom in the North and the Midlands, and to show Labour is delivering for the voters that put them in power. It's not just about Reform, it's about years of Tory austerity and broken promises. Follow our Mirror Politics account on Bluesky here. And follow our Mirror Politics team here - Lizzy Buchan, Mikey Smith, Kevin Maguire, Sophie Huskisson, Dave Burke and Ashley Cowburn. Be first to get the biggest bombshells and breaking news by joining our Politics WhatsApp group here. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you want to leave our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Or sign up here to the Mirror's Politics newsletter for all the best exclusives and opinions straight to your inbox. And listen to our exciting new political podcast The Division Bell, hosted by the Mirror and the Express every Thursday. There are two problems. First, long term investment may not offer the sugar hit that voters want. And the second is that people have been made these promises before. Brexiteers said leaving the EU would help left behind parts of Britain but nearly 10 years on, Brits are still waiting to feel the benefits. Boris Johnson said he would level up the country but never delivered on it. Rishi Sunak made the same commitment but his levelling up agenda was beset by delays and claims that cash for the North was being diverted South. His decision to announce he was axing the northern leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester... in Manchester, was a particular low point. Reeves acknowledged that trust is low and she said she knows "people aren't feeling benefits" yet from a Labour Government. But she is hoping that she can tell a compelling story about how Labour will change Britain - and deliver where the Tories failed.
