Leeds City Council to buy land for park and ride extension

Plans to purchase land to extend the Temple Green park-and-ride scheme by 400 spaces will go before councillors at an executive board meeting next week.

It comes as work to increase the park and ride site at Elland Road by 550 spaces as the council claims the popularity of park and ride is such that its sites will reach capacity next year.

A report going before executive board members states: “(Park-and-ride) offers a real alternative to bringing cars into the city centre, thereby reducing congestion and improving air quality. As other major transport infrastructure projects evolve, the council has the opportunity to build on the success of the Temple Green park-and-ride by acquiring adjoining land to extend the car park from the current 1,000 spaces by circa 400 spaces.

“The Temple Green park-and-ride has proved very successful with the car park over 85 per cent full at peak use in recent weeks. At current growth levels the park-and-ride is expected to be full during 2019.”
It is not known how much the council will pay for the land, but the report claims it would pay “market value” to acquire the land.

The report concludes: “The Temple Green park-and-ride has proved popular and usage continues to grow that a strong business case has been formulated to justify its extension onto adjoining land to provide circa 400 additional parking spaces.

“Increased capacity at Temple Green will take more commuter cars out of the city centre helping to improve air quality and reduce congestion.”

The report will go before the council’s executive board on Wednesday, December 19.