Politicians back £20m scheme for city street

A PLAN for the £20m transformation of one of Leeds’s busiest streets has been backed by politicians.

Changes to The Headrow will make it easier and safer to cycle on the road and to get the bus there – and, according to West Yorkshire Combined Authority, will provide benefits to a much wider area.

One member of the Combined Authority stressed the importance of promoting the scheme’s wider benefits to the public to show that it was not merely a high-profile roadworks project. The Authority’s Investment Committee yesterday backed development funding for a £20.7m Headrow City Centre Gateway.

The project will transform The Headrow, Westgate, Vicar Lane, New Briggate, Cookridge Street, Harrison Street and Eastgate. Works will include improvements to bus, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure to get more people to ditch their cars.

It will also include protected cycle lanes, improved pedestrian crossings and new public spaces as well as changes to the road layout and the removal of the central reserve, footpath and the reallocation of some on-street parking, loading and taxi provision, along with some re-routing of buses.

The scheme is due to be completed by June 2020.

Lisa Childs, an officer involved in the project, said: “It will allow more people to use the bus service, reduce cross city journey times and improve air quality.”

Coun Peter Box, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee, said it was important that the public were told what the benefits would be.