YEP Letters: March 16

Check out today's YEP letters

A long-term masterplan to rebuild Leeds Station is being drawn up which will see extra platforms new concourse areas and extra retail space as the city aims to create a “world class gateway” for visitors. Leeds Station is already one of the busiest transport hubs in the north and the council and partner agencies want to begin work now to accommodate HS2 and HS3 as well as expected growth on the existing network. Here’s how readers have reacted to the proposal.

Martin Hamilton, Director, Leeds Civic Trust

Leeds Civic Trust welcomes the announcement that Leeds Station is to be redeveloped to create the world class facility that the busiest station outside of London deserves to become (YEP, March 15).

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With proposals to pedestrianise City Square within the next few years, these proposals could transform the first impressions visitors have of Leeds. The Trust has always taken a keen interest in transport infrastructure in Leeds and recently worked with the Chamber of Commerce to ensure that the HS2 station adjoined the existing station – original proposals were for a separate station a third of a mile down the track. However HS2 is nearly two decades away. These improvements must be undertaken as soon as possible and should not have to wait for the arrival of HS2.

Ian Johnson

I see little point in a world class station if there is no transport strategy in place to get to the station.

Roads are in poor condition and congested, no mass transit system and over priced bus services. Get local transport sorted rather than getting giddy over a white elephant like HS2.

Chris Mellor

Leeds is constantly wasting West Yorkshire’s brass thinking it is feathering its own nest while choking itself with congestion.

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People should not need to travel north from the likes of Wakefield and Huddersfield to head south to London. Why not build a station somewhere better?

Chris Wade

About time Leeds got the sort of investment seen in smaller places like Manchester. The King’s Cross station redevelopment is excellent so it’s good to see the same people involved. We might, just, end up with a station the city and region deserve.

Ian Cox

Why not invest in the trains and general transport system itself? Bit like putting a Ferrari body on 30-year-old lawnmower - looks good but still won’t work!

Alan Cass

Seeing the station on national breakfast TV this week really showed how dated and truly awful Leeds station really is! It was embarrassing to see.

Phil Lee

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I’d like to see new car parks to accommodate the increased traffic once the super high speed trains from Leeds to Manchester/airport (a proper one) happen... meanwhile LBA can dither with its rip off parking service and car lot attitude and convert itself into a big industrial estate.

Mel Thornton

Need to improve the toilets on the platform they are truly gross before they think about rebuilding.

Neil Watson

Sort out the city’s internal travel infrastructure first before giving rail staff new buildings to be surly and miserable in.

Rowan Grant

Good, the current layout is ridiculous and not practical.

David Garland

About time. Fingers crossed it’s in my lifetime. Now if they could sort out the rubbish bus service too?

Fleck Fletcher

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This is not fixable. The station was built in the wrong location in first place.

Cheryl Fox

Bus and trains should be together not ten minutes walk away from each other.

Martin Spamer

Which will still be served by the same ramshackle old trains.

Nathan Kennedy

Didn’t they do that 15 years ago with four new platforms and roof? What do they mean ‘world class’?

Amanda Jayne Turpin

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It needs to start with better access to the station. The road in is a joke.

Aiden Fryer

Make sure it has heating on in winter as the platforms are so cold in the winter months. And can we have more toilets please, free ones on the platforms.

Susan Mitchell

And can we please employ Leeds people to do the work.

Edna Allen

A bigger car park is needed!

Jenny Stevens

A new/improved station will do nothing to help the fact that there aren’t enough train lines and stations to the towns surrounding the city.

The fact is that most people still have to drive or get a taxi to the station because the bus services are useless/non existent and most stops are too far from the station!

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Going underground or installing a tram system would be a far wiser way to spend transport money (not to mention a half decent transport service to the airport).

Seems to me they’re forgetting about the residents of Leeds again and focusing on ways to attract more out of town commuters.

zac-leeds, via website

Leeds the city of ‘masterplans’ ‘proposals’.. for us to be really moving forward as a city we need more action in terms of physical building work, until then we continue to talk the talk whilst other cities are walking the walk.

It is noticeable that we are constantly reading about what could happen, what might happen, these things need to ACTUALLY happen and soon.

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Too slow a process like so many things in Leeds, we waited 20 years plus for our arena, we are still waiting for a decent transport network, a lot of the South Bank development is talk.

Fansince62, via website

Is there any possibility that they will be able to add a carriage or two to the trains from Harrogate into this world class hub?

It would then go down a little better with the angry, dishevelled, late, frustrated people who get off the train to queue for the tickets they couldn’t get because the conductor couldn’t get down the carriages. And leave the concourse alone!

Rhegis, via website

Surely if traffic is no longer allowed in City Square that means the loop road is blocked.

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Where will vast amount of traffic that currently uses Neville Street go, especially if they close the loop road?

Leeds6, via website

So does that mean the millions just spent will have more millions to redo it? Confused.com, me that is. This council are great at hot air/artists impressions aren’t they?

marcovitch, via website

Perhaps we should rebrand Leeds as ‘The City of Definite Maybes’

I can feel another multi- million pound feasibility study coming along.

s1234_2, via website

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Getting buses to connect with the station instead of connecting with the Corn Exchange might also be worth of consideration.

And will they have a world-class pick up area instead of the Benny Hill-inspired pick up spot next to Wetherspoons round the back?

The big problem with Leeds Station is how and where it expands? Good luck with that one.

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