Consultation starts on latest phase of Park and Ride expansion

A public consultation on plans to expand the 1,000-space bus park and ride site at Temple Green in east Leeds is now underway.

Connecting Leeds said there will also be consultation on plans around improvements on Beckett Street between St James’s University Hospital and the city centre.

In December, Leeds City Council approved plans to buy land to provide an extra 400 parking spaces at Temple Green park and ride.

Connecting Leeds has now developed the plans for public consultation.

Opened two years ago, Temple Green park and ride is over 85 per cent full at peak times.

At current growth levels it will reach maximum capacity before the end of this year, the council said.

Temple Green is served by ultra-low emission Hybrid Electric buses, helping improve air quality by removing more cars from the roads going into the city centre.

Outside the city centre, the city bound bus stop opposite St James’s University Hospital is the busiest stop in Leeds. Previous consultation plans for nearby Beckett Street and Burmantofts Street (on the Oakwood to Leeds route), found most people agreed bus services were often delayed and unreliable. They supported the proposals to introduce improvements to benefit bus users, cyclists and pedestrians.

The updated proposals can reduce bus journey times by up to six minutes at peak times.

Together these two schemes will help increase public transport use, in line with the council’s target of doubling the number of bus users in ten years. In addition, the schemes will also improve local air quality and encourage active travel.

Connecting Leeds, the council’s transport strategy for the city, is working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, partners and stakeholders to improve the transport network in Leeds and connecting to the wider Leeds City Region.

It is to invest £270m in the transport network around the city.

For Beckett Street a public drop-in session at St James’s University Hospital will take place from 2pm – 7pm on 9 July.

The public can give their views on both schemes (Temple Green and Oakwood to Leeds) via the website www.leeds.gov.uk/Connecting%20Leeds until Friday 2 August.

Executive board member for climate change, transport and sustainable development, Cllr Lisa Mulherin said: “Park and ride is a key part of our Connecting Leeds transport strategy for the city. After only two years, I’m pleased to see Temple Green park and ride is already a success and is growing to take more cars off the roads into the city centre. It shows that by working together with bus operators providing new, cleaner, bus services, people are finding it a better alternative to travelling by car into the city centre.

“The Beckett Street proposals offer more pedestrian crossings, wider footways, and improved cycling facilities to promote better sustainable travel options for people to use. After declaring a Climate Emergency it is more important than ever that we consider how transport schemes contribute to cleaner air and encourage walking, cycling and public transport use as more sustainable forms of transport.”

Cllr Kim Groves, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority transport committee, said: “In the two years since it opened, Temple Green park and ride has been used around ¾ million times. Park and ride in Leeds has been a huge success with people having used the Temple Green and Elland Road services to make almost 2.5 million journeys on ultra-low emission buses.

“Between them the two sites are responsible for removing the congestion and pollution of around 9,000 car journeys from the city centre’s streets every week and this proposed extension at Temple Green along with the soon-to-start expansion at Elland Road will increase that figure significantly.”

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