Two off-site airport car parks which won appeals against Leeds City Council are to pay £127,000 in public transport contributions.

Both car parks were given the go-ahead in May after successful appeals to a planning inspector.

But their permission is subject to Section 106 agreements which stipulate contributions to help pay for public transport to the airport.

Sentinel is to pay £91,000 and Learmonth will pay £36,000, members of the Leeds West Plans Panel will be told today (Thursday, June 23).

Sentinel Car Park was already a successful business when it applied for permission to increase its operation.

Its future was thrown into doubt after officers on Leeds City Council said they had discovered it did not have planning permission.

Councillors were advised to refuse the application, and they invited Sentinel to apply for temporary permission instead.

Sentinel’s future and the jobs of up to 50 local people were secured after it won an appeal against non-determination of its application by the council.

A separate appeal by Learmouth Property which was dealt with as part of the same hearing was also successful. Learmouth Property was appealing against a non-determination by the council over its application for an off-site airport car park on the former Avro site, at the Leeds Bradford Industrial Estate. The car park will provide 643 spaces.

Now Leeds City Council will have to look at whether to tighten up its policies or guidelines if it wants to restrict further off-site airport car parking outside the operational boundary of the airport.

A report to members says the inspector did not believe that allowing the proposed schemes would lead to an undermining of the viability of subsidised public transport serving the airport, or that this would lead to a spiral of decline in public transport use by airport passengers.