Calls to resurrect Leeds’s lost railway stations to go before council

A senior Leeds city councillor has reiterated calls to reopen some of district’s lost railway stations to help combat climate change and get more people using public transport.

Leader of Leeds City Council’s Greens group David Blackburn has been a long-time proponent of reintroducing local rail stations, and he is set to ask fellow councillors to support the resurrection of the city’s disused rail infrastructure, as well as supporting public ownership of the region’s bus services.

The motion ends by suggesting the council’s Chief Executive Tom Riordan write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ask for government help funding the projects.

His clarion call is detailed in a motion, known as a white paper, set to go before a full Leeds City Council meeting next week, when councillors will vote whether or not the authority should adopt it.

It states: “Council notes the current uncertain situation with regard to First Bus and other bus operators in West Yorkshire, and believes that the way forward is for West Yorkshire Combined Authority to take over the running of these operations.

“Council also believes that appropriate funding should be made available to bring back into operation disused rail infrastructure, such as unused track, and the re-opening of many of the former local railway stations closed many years ago, such as the one in Wortley and the two in Armley.

“It is council’s view that only with vibrant publicly owned bus services, running in the interest of the passenger, and expanded local rail services can Leeds (or for that matter, West Yorkshire) achieve a 21st Century public transport system that delivers for its citizens, helps to reduce congestion and is consistent with the aims of the climate emergency.

“Council also notes that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stated that he will transform transport in the North. Bearing this in mind council, therefore, calls on the chief executive to write to the Prime Minister asking for the government to support these aspirations, both in actions and funding.”

Coun Blackburn made similar calls to reopen the city’s forgotten rail stations at a meeting of the authority’s climate emergency board in 2019, claiming plans to expand park and ride schemes were not environmentally friendly enough.

Following a report by government advisor Dr Richard Beeching in the 1960s, a number of stations in Leeds, including Armley Canal Road, Kirkstall and Stanningley were closed.

Councillors will vote on the motion at a meeting in Civic Hall on Wednesday, January 15.