Leeds nostalgia: Cars on '˜parking belts' plan in 1946

The car was the future for Leeds. The Corporation outlined a plan in which the city would provide 14,000 car parking spaces 'within easy reach of the shopping and amusement' centres.

Alderman F H O’Donnell, on the town planning and improvements committee, said: “It is estimated future requirements will increase by 100 per cent. We must provide for at least 10,000 cars in the next 20 years. A short-term policy will include cleared sites until they are wanted for other uses.”But he said Leeds was investigating the possibility ‘mechanised parking belts’ for cars in Leeds, adding: “If this mechanisation, such as the ‘push button’ system of parking cars on movable belts, is adopted, there should be a total capacity for 14,000 cars.”

The YEP carried a picture, available to view on our website, of the steps being cut into Roundhay Park’s Hill 60.

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In world news, Italians voted for a republic, meaning its monarch, King Umberto II, would “probably have to go into exile”. In the event he was the last king of Italy, reigning for slightly over a month, from May 9, 1946 to June 12, 1946. He was later nicknamed the May King. He lineage dated back to the 11th century.

The ‘brighter Sunday’ movement in Leeds won a victory after cinema owners agreed to begin opening on Sundays. They were unhappy with demands that a large portion of their takings for Sunday opening be given to charity. But a deal thrashed out by the Corporation Watch Committee seemed to quell their unease. Cinemas would be able to open from July onwards.

Schoolboy violinist Geoffrey Crowther, 12, of Pudsey, was preparing to compete in Ilkley on June 1 - he had already won first prize in the Wharfedale Music Festival in 1945.