Transport plan to cover Leeds region, says council chief

PLAN: Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds City Council, says Leeds still needs a tram network.

Speaking at the Leeds launch of the Deloitte Regional Crane Survey 2016, Tom Riordan said the council’s latest plan, which includes a new tram network, would not just be confined to Leeds.

“We haven’t ruled out a tram, in fact, we want a mass transit system,” Mr Riordan told an audience of property professionals and business leaders.

“But we are being very honest about recognising that that is going to be in the 2020s. We want your support in terms of building the case for government and future governments, to support Leeds and the Leeds city region.”

The ambitious proposals come after Leeds’s Next Generation Transport (NGT) trolleybus scheme was abandoned after being rejected by the Department for Transport last May.

The money from the failed trolleybus scheme will now be used by council transport chiefs partly to fund the latest proposals, which include a new station serving Leeds Bradford Airport and new railway stations to be built at White Rose Shopping Centre and Thorpe Park as well as new buses and new technology, such as a smartcard system.