Hello, my name is Nick Hodgkinson, from the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport (GALBA).  I have been a climate activist since Motor Neurone Disease forced me to give up work five years ago.  

GALBA's mission is to stop the expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport. Its backers, Australian finance company AMP,  want to almost double passenger numbers.  And that means doubling climate-wrecking greenhouse gas emissions. 

To stop Leeds Bradford Airport - and every other airport - from expanding, we have to take on the government's entire aviation strategy. It's called Jet Zero and it's a complete climate con.

This is a huge fight but we are determined to win.  And our win will change the landscape against which all airport decisions are taken. We will win for our climate, our communities and the future of our children.

We are a small group of climate activists from West Yorkshire taking on a government that wants to encourage airport expansion. It's a David and Goliath battle. But we all know how that ended!

GALBA has previously forced LBA to back down by successfully calling for a Public Inquiry into the expansion plans.  LBA withdrew its planning application. But it hasn't dropped its plans to increase passenger numbers.  And we know they won't give up unless we stop them once and for all.

All airports in the UK want to expand.  And - despite the worsening climate crisis - they have the government on their side. Unbelievably, Jet Zero, the government's new so-called 'green' aviation strategy, actively encourages MORE flights and BIGGER airports.  

The IPCC warns that all emissions must be halved by 2030. But the government’s new Jet Zero strategy allows aviation to expand and lets the industry’s emissions keep on rising. We know Leeds Bradford Airport - and airports across the UK - will use Jet Zero to justify their expansion plans.

Jet Zero is deeply irresponsible and that’s why we’re making a judicial review challenge in the High Court against the government. We will force them to rewrite Jet Zero and take meaningful climate action! 

Our Judicial Review against Jet Zero will completely alter the context in which all airport expansion planning decisions are made, forcing decision makers to put the climate and the future of our children above their own profits.

Our lawyers, Leigh Day Solicitors and Cornerstone Barristers, have a proven track record of success in environmental litigation. They’re working for us at cut price rates but we still need to raise £60,000 in total to cover all the costs. 

Our legal case will show that Jet Zero is unlawful and needs to be completely re-written. We know this type of legal challenge can work - the government has already been told to re-write its Net Zero strategy by the High Court. Our case will be crucial follow up to that, by forcing the government to come up with genuinely effective measures to cut the aviation industry's emission now, not at some vague, far distant point in the future.

Our case will show, among other things, that the Secretary of State failed in his duty to engage with repeated advice from the government’s own independent experts on the Climate Change Committee, which was clear that demand for flying must be controlled by stopping airport expansion and introducing taxes on aircraft fossil fuels. 

Jet Zero ignores the advice of the Climate Change Committee and gambles on new fuels and technologies being developed at some unspecified point in the future. The Climate Change Committee describes the government’s approach as ‘high risk’.

We have already sent our judicial review claim to the High Court. When we get confirmation that our claim has been accepted, the court will fix a date for our barristers to go to the High Court and present our arguments in person. 

We need to raise £60,000 in total. That will cover all the costs of our solicitors and barristers, court fees, disbursements and any possible costs awarded against us. The £5,000 target here will cover our solicitors costs at the substantive hearing in the High Court. If we raise more, that will help with other stages of our case.

Our legal grounds for challenge are strong and we have great lawyers. Please help us overturn the government’s reckless and dangerous Jet Zero strategy!

If we raise more money than we need, we will ensure that any extra funds are spent on fighting the expansion of airports or increasing flights in the UK.

Thank you for reading this.  We hope you will support us.  And do please share our message far and wide.