Leeds Bradford Airport Parking

[White Heather]

All that is wrong with the signs is that they are the sort that should be only on airport land, whereas they have put them on the public highway, where they should be compliant with the rules for highway signage and a different colour/font etc. The actual quality of the signs and appearance of them is fine. Its a mistake that shouldn't have happened, but easily remedied and certainly not worthy of the front page treatment given it by the (obviously desperate) YEP.

In my view though, the disgrace in all this is the endless assault on the airport by what is laughingly called a local paper. Their behaviour is pathetic, aided and abetted by taxi firms who have been provided with a simple solution by LBA some considerable time ago (£25 per year allowing them 15 minutes free each time) but choose not to take the offer up, presumably so they can charge their customers more whilst blaming the airport for it.

Despite all the wailing, passenger figures suggest that the public don't care and are sensible enough to see that travelling longer distances to other airports just to save a couple of quid makes no sense at all and will leave them well out of pocket. Perhaps others will be happy if the airport drops the £2 fee and then introduces a £10 airport tax instead as has already happened at some other regional airports, simply to remain in business, or if LBA makes 20% of its staff redundant to balance the books and then scraps the terminal development. Since it costs LBA £29m per year to operate, let alone make a profit or make money to invest in the terminal, I do wonder where folk think they will make this money from? As I have said before, LBA is not a charity. It has to make a profit, as does every other airport if it wishes to remain open. The likes of MAN still attract airlines that pay more significant landing fees, and has millions of passengers a year ploughing money into the coffers via the long stay carparks. The situation is quite different for the smaller airports. Personally I would not buy the YEP again as this is not the first time they have attacked LBA since it was sold to the private sector.

 

[ls27]

With regards to airport staff moving people on and carrying out the work of the City council's parking staff, I wonder under what powers the City Council can give
to private companies to move traffic on on a Public Highway, to prevent drop offs.
Double Yellow lines mean ' No Waiting' for a prescribed length of time,( new traffic orders with 'at any time ' restrictions no longer have to have a sign saying so), As far as I can remember the only way to stop traffic actually is an Urban Clear Way. If they are going to stop the public from dropping off near the airport, then buses using the bus stop on Whitehouse lane should be stopped, as putting a Bus Stop sign on a post has no legal bearing. It must be in the Road Traffic Order for the location, and marked out as such on the carriageway, for it to be legal. No loading on the yellow lines is not allow at the location as the signs indicate, so again it is back to the bus problem.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

[offtopic]When local councils elect to take over the supervision and enforcement of parking on the public highway from the police they do so under the civil law, whereas the police, including traffic wardens and PCSOs employed by police forces, do so under the criminal law.

Local authorities are allowed to keep any 'profits' they make from levying parking charges or collecting 'fines' from motorists whereas the police aren't allowed to. In areas where the police still enforce street parking all money brought in by fined motorists goes to the central government in the same way that all other criminal fines do.

Traffic wardens/civil enforcement officers (call them what you will) employed by local authorities have no powers to move drivers on or direct traffic. They merely enforce street parking for the local authority as a civil debt. Local authorities can physically remove vehicles illegally parked on the highway though if they believe the circumstances justify it.[/offtopic]

 

[User0001]

Summary of the planning decisions for Sentinel and the industrial estate. Looks like the council have got another £127,000 for public transport contributions

4.0 THE DECISION
4.1 The appeals were allowed and permanent planning permission was granted to each
proposal subject to conditions in a letter dated 18 May 2011.
4.2 The Sentinel permission is limited to 2,000 parking spaces, whilst Learmonth
permission is conditioned to 643 parking spaces and both schemes must use the
airport forecourt to pick up & drop off passengers.
4.3 Members should be aware that there are now a total of 2,958 off-site long stay
parking spaces and a provision of 3,740 long stay spaces on-site.
4.4 Both permissions are subject to a Section106 agreement for public transport
contributions. Sentinel is to pay £91k within 2 months and Learmonth £36k, 50%
prior to occupation and the other 50% within a year of opening.

This element was amusing though, considering the hysteria from some councillors over the revised pick-up / drop-off arrangements

In reviewing the Master Plan (MP), the Inspector noted that (because of the airport’s
location) a significant number of passengers are dropped off and/or picked up by a
third party (referred to as ‘kiss and fly’) and if insufficient parking spaces are
provided then the incidence of kiss and fly will increase thereby causing additional
double car journeys involving extra travel distances.

 

[tleeds]

I'm loving LBA's new website slogan for parking:

"Park on site, not out of site".

This I have seen on their website and also in one of the latter pages of a local paper, possibly the Telegraph&Argus but not sure. It seems like LBA are thinking that cheaper parking may affect their parking revenue streams and quite rightly to be fair!
Many forum members have rightly expressed that the airport's main revenue now comes from Passengers and by the council allowing an off-site carpark to be developed, a large chunk of that revenue has been taken away.

I'm wondering whether early bookings are showing a decline and thats why LBA are now advertising?!

 

[Aviador]

The main off site carpark 'Sentinel' has been there for about a decade so there wont be any new additional lost revenue. The other new carpark is undercover and it's small so again, no major loss of revenue.

 

[Jordan-34092]

Re: Leeds Bradford - General Thread

[textarea]Leeds Bradford Airport boss defends drop off fee


The new drop off parking fee at Leeds Bradford Airport has been defended by an airport boss as necessary to help offset the £3 million cost of upgrading the apron area outside the terminal, the Telegraph & Argus reports.

Tony Hallwood, LBIA commercial director, told Bradford business leaders that the £2 charge for the drop-off and pick-up car park was in line with fees at other airports such as Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol. He added that the introduction of charges followed extensive work on airport facilities, which formed part of a longer-term major investment programme that would see the terminal building and passenger services vastly improved.

Source: http://www.uk-airport-news.info/leeds-b ... 30711.html[/textarea]


So it is for the upgrade of the apron this £2 fare is, think this money will more likely be used for the terminal upgrade than the apron.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Tony Hallwood, LBIA commercial director, told Bradford business leaders that the £2 charge for the drop-off and pick-up car park was in line with fees at other airports such as Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol.

Bristol and, I think, Newcastle charge £1 - not sure about Manchester.

 

[dmrodgers]

Tony Hallwood, LBIA commercial director, told Bradford business leaders that the £2 charge for the drop-off and pick-up car park was in line with fees at other airports such as Manchester, Newcastle and Bristol.

Bristol and, I think, Newcastle charge £1 - not sure about Manchester.

Drop off at Manchester is FREE, pick up is £2.20 for up to 30 mins.

 

[lbaspotter]

Re: Leeds Bradford - General Thread

East Midlands also charges £1 while Bournemouth charge £2.50p for drop off fees

Meanwhile Teeside £6, Blackpool £10 and Newquay £5 Airports charge development fees that have to be paid by all departing passengers. Not just Car drivers.

So would rather have all passengers pay £6 to £10 development fee instead of the now £2 (£4 return) drop off/Pick up fee which is only paid by Car users? By way the fee can be avoided in the Long stay Car Parks as its with free to park for up to 1hour or you could trying using one of the airport bus service’s.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Leeds Bradford - General Thread

Putting LBA into perspective, other airports that charge £1 drop-off/pick-up fee are Exeter (just been introduced) and Cardiff.

Both these airports do have alternative free drop-off areas but not as near to the terminal - in Exeter's case 800 metres from the terminal.

 

[Aviador]

Putting LBA into perspective, other airports that charge £1 drop-off/pick-up fee are Exeter (just been introduced) and Cardiff.

Both these airports do have alternative free drop-off areas but not as near to the terminal - in Exeter's case 800 metres from the terminal.

The same applies at LBA. Up to one hour free parking is available in the long stay car park.

 

[Aviador]

The airport has relocated it's newly erected parking signs onto airport property. I understand this has satisfied the council.

 

[wawkrk]

I bet a lot of the complainers take one holiday trip per year and object to paying the 2 pounds per year drop off fee.Then, they probably go to the pub and drown their sorrows with a 3 quid pint of beer.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

Whether the fee is minimal or not, the whole situation is farcical. I drove past the airport last Sunday and had to laugh at the civil cervant who was wandering up and down trying to move people on. Completely thankless job and never ending as cars were parked all the way along the road. What I didn't find funny, however, were the apalling traffic jams around the airport on that day. I personally believe they should worry less about parking and more about improving access to their airport. You never know, it may even earn them some money.....

 

[White Heather]

Whether the fee is minimal or not, the whole situation is farcical. I drove past the airport last Sunday and had to laugh at the civil cervant who was wandering up and down trying to move people on. Completely thankless job and never ending as cars were parked all the way along the road. What I didn't find funny, however, were the apalling traffic jams around the airport on that day. I personally believe they should worry less about parking and more about improving access to their airport. You never know, it may even earn them some money.....

#


Perhaps, there wouldn't be as many appalling traffic jams if more people just used the drop off zone, paid the £2, and left again, rather than clogging up the roads by parking illegally just to avoid paying. As for road improvements to seriously improve access to the airport, that is for the Local Authority and the Highways Department, not the airport, and we all know how Leeds City Council just love throwing money at road schemes in NW Leeds and around the airport - not!!

There is generally an assumption made that the traffic jams in the Yeadon area are caused by the airport, but there have been surveys done (including by the Council themselves) which have proven that in fact the vast majority of traffic in the vicinity of the airport is not heading either to, or from LBA. Of course, LBA adds to the existing problem, but it is not specifically an airport problem. The A658 is a main route out of Bradford towards North Yorkshire and from areas of NW Leeds too, and quickly gets clogged up. particularly at weekends, with lots of people heading out of the cities in to the countryside/Harrogate/Knaresborough/York, not to mention the masses of traffic that go to the Car Boot Sale up on the hill near the airport every Sunday morning, which causes mayhem at the nearby junction with the A658.

Perhaps therefore the Council should do their job and work with the airport, rather than against it, by helping the development of completely new road links to LBA. Sadly that would mean carving new roads into the surrounding fields, with NIMBY's galore complaining and being backed by their local councillors, who suddenly and very publicly make LBA public enemy No 1, just as they did over the £2 parking fee. That is exactly why Leeds Council did precisely nothing about the roads to LBA in their 50 year ownership of the airport - too expensive and too much hassle. Even when there was a plan to build the Pudsey - Dishforth motorway link right past the airport (running along Scotland Lane), Leeds Council objected. Had that motorway link been built, I would imagine that LBA would probably be twice the size it is now.

 

[Jordan-34092]

[offtopic]The council could easy change the layout slightly around the airport to make it less congested. A suggestion of mine coule be a link to the A660 that would that would allow people to use the ring road to link up with the M1 near Seacroft. Surely that would help cut congestion slightly. Leeds Council should be trying to support the airport as much as possible.[/offtopic]

 

[User0001]

Latest figures released to the council as part of the planning application process for the terminal, show around 500 vehicles a week are now using the free long stay parking, up from around 20 per week when the new pick up / drop-off arrangements were introduced.

The airport also provided information that they now have 306 members signed up to the Voyager scheme, which is the scheme which allows taxi companies to pay £25 per year to avoid the £2 pick-up / drop fee and benefit from waiting periods to collect pre-booked pick ups

New road signs to direct drivers to the free long stay have been designed and will be errected by the airport on their own land.

 

[tleeds]

Sounds like the scheme has finally sunk into everyone, but as much as people resent the charges that have been imposed, they are all still willing to pay the £2 charge.
I hadn't heard of the Voyager scheme until reading this LS16, so possibly with a little more advertising from the airport on this subject, more drivers will sign up to it.
The need for new signs is in the critical zone now. I was dropping off my grandparents a few weeks ago and a lot of people were aimlessly wandering around the car-park and also along White House Lane looking lost.

The airport seem to be along the right-tracks anyway to making a major improvement on how it has been run in the past. :good:

 

[User0001]

The Voyager scheme is for taxi / private-hire only, so unless you are in that particular trade, you won't have heard about it.
It is on the web-site though if you wish to learn more about it.
http://www.leedsbradfordairport.co.uk/parking/voyager

306 members suggests that most of the people that need to know about it, probably do.