YEP LETTERS: November 7

Today our readers are talking about Victoria Gate, why taxis are taking over, how to save our MPs from dancing humiliation - and who remembers the cockle man?
Victoria Gate, LeedsVictoria Gate, Leeds
Victoria Gate, Leeds

Victoria Gate makes me so proud

Mrs J Kirby, Holbeck

jUST a few lines to say how proud I am of the new Victoria Gate Shopping Centre.

it is a credit to all involved in the making of it.

I was born in Holbeck and I have seen Leeds grow and grow into a wonderful shopping centre.

We have it all now.

Thank you, Leeds.

Vanity projects won’t match city’s needs

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Coun Tom Leadley, Morley Borough Independent, Leeds City Council

Following the ‘Mass Transport Bid Vital’ front page story (The Yorkshire Evening Post, October 27), I write to defend the strategy outlined by Coun Richard Lewis, as it closely matches what I have been putting forward for more than 20 years.

If nothing else has been gathered from the £50m or so wasted on Leeds Supertram and NGT trolleybus projects, it must be clear by now that expensive public transport vanity projects limited to a few short and narrow corridors don’t match the city’s needs. Arguing along the lines that ‘they’ve got one in Nottingham, so we must have one too’, won’t give solutions tailored to Leeds.

There is an urgency to get on with allocating the £173.5m of central government money salvaged from NGT; more years of mass transit feasibility studies won’t fit the timetable.

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We need to be able to invest that money quickly, and to show quick returns; tackling pinch-points in the highway and public transport networks will achieve part of that.

Few railway stations were left in and around Leeds after the Beeching years so there will be scope for building or re-opening some more; White Rose Shopping Centre and East Ardsley are examples which should be looked at.

Although it is claimed often that Leeds is “the largest city in Europe with out a mass transit system”, that seems to be based on the population of the metropolitan district, which is about 750,000.

More to the point is the population of ‘Real Leeds’, the built-up main urban area, more or less the old Leeds County Borough, which is only about 500,000 and highly marginal in being big enough for mass passenger transport. Real Leeds is quite compact; big cities around the world nowadays each have many millions of citizens, not merely half a million, and therefore need and are able to support and justify investment in mass passenger transport which may not be suited to our city.

Roundabout is a another blunder

DS Boyes, LS13

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I must take issue with Coun Lewis over congestion, which in the case of the revised Rodley roundabout has got worse, not better.

The design and layout of this monstrosity has been a disaster for road users on the A657 and Outer Ring Road.

From day one it has been proved an accident black spot with numerous traffic lights and bollards knocked down.

Recently one HGV that had broken down grid-locked the whole area with traffic flow to Calverley and Horsforth from the Rodley/Leeds direction completely blocked needing a very long detour up the Ring Road to Dawson’s Corner and back again.

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The problem being the flawed design, with several short sections of road between numerous traffic lights incapable of handling the traffic.

Once again large vehicles stops, even at a red light never mind if broken down, result is chaos.

Leeds City Council must hold up its hands and admit that this has been another monumental blunder.

The mini-stonehenge currently under construction on the grassed area will do nothing for anyone.

Why not go back to the trams?

K Holmes, Sherburn Court, Leeds LS14.

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AFTER years of drivel spouted by Leeds Council about what type of transport the citizens of Leeds require, there has only been one good type we had and that was the trams.

They could take prams and wheelchairs at the front and back of the tram, plus long queues.

Bradford got rid of the trolley bus that has been banded about by Leeds Council. If my memory is correct it was the Leeds Council that got rid of the trams in Leeds.

It’s good to see that someone can come up with a good idea. Thanks to Mr Greg Mulholland, at least he can see the future.

Remembering the cockle man

Geoff Hardwick, Leeds LS4.

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I remember the cockles, whelks and mussels man selling his goods in clubs and pubs but you don’t seem to see them any more.

Can anyone else remember him?

Save MPs from dancing shame!

Robert Holman, Farsley

I wonder if Yorkshire Evening Post readers agree with me that we should give our ex-MPs a decent pension in order to save humiliating themselves, and us, on TV dancing and on other silly game shows, or give them a seat with the other pensioners in the Lords.

Taxi takeover of our city centre

A Hague, LS9

ONE question - is it common for cities like Leeds to be dominated by taxis and car hire?

Boar Lane has long lines of them all over, in the bus lanes and, worse still, some let in passengers using the outer door forcing cyclists into the centre lane, forcing cars to slow down.

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It’s like a pack of greedy vultures ready to swoop on custom and to hell with the rest of us.

Some even stop to chat with mates oblivious to traffic coming up behind.

We must work together

KE Coates, Garforth

FRANCE’S president is being openly offensive about dealing with us after we leave the EU.

I would say to him the French car industry has done extremely well here in Britain and of course their farmers have also done very well with our support.

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Unless the president changes his attitude we should stop buying their cars. I personally have owned six French-built cars but unless the president changes his attitude I will be given them a wide berth. I would probably change to Japanese manufacturers or South Korean, lots of them are actually made here in this country.

Of course cars made under the VW banner, Audi, Seat, Skoda, have all suffered because of the emission scam and false mpg figures.

VW in particular would stand to lose even more than the French if we don’t get the same deals with these countries as we do now, they will be the losers.

England, Scotland, Wales, and of course Ireland, all need to work together, otherwise we all stand to lose big time. But it must be together.

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Are you listening, Nicola Sturgeon? She seems to be determined to go it alone, I would suggest she works with us or emigrates to France or Germany. I think our Prime Minister Theresa May is doing a great job

We are hearing nothing but talk

Ernest Lundy, by email

The latest shenanigans in Parliament over Brexit only serve to reveal that those in high places with opposite views will do anything to delay and/or avoid implementing the wishes of the people; even after a democratic vote.

They really do believe they are all powerful and work on the old methods of delay, divide and conquer. If the methods they use are really necessary in law, why were they not mentioned before the referendum?

But some three months or more after the vote, the whole business is a mess, and we hear nothing but talk!