Sovereign Street: 'Unreasonable' one-way system blasted by Leeds residents as council builds cycle track

The work, on Sovereign Street, began on Thursday (January 4) – but not all are thrilled about the project.

Leeds City Council is building the new two-way cycle lane along the stretch and, while it’s under construction, has introduced a one-way system for traffic.

Vehicles will only be able to travel from west to east from Neville Street towards Swinegate.

The plans will also see upgraded traffic lights installed at the junction between Sovereign Street and Neville Street.

By April, when the works are set to be finished, Sovereign Street will become one-way permanently.

When the news was shared with Yorkshire Evening Post readers, there was significant backlash.

Among those frustrated was Melanie Shackleton, who said: “It seems the plan to improve the city centre is actually turning people away due to the inaccessibility for drivers. I would only ever now drive into Leeds from the top end at Woodhouse, or just not bother at all. Public transport is often unreliable so people don’t use that either.”

Meanwhile, Sameer Ka described the plans as “insane and unreasonable”.

Alan Wright was in agreement. He said: “Cycle lanes are creating traffic congestion by adding pollution and the bus only lanes do the same. The public need easy access to Leeds city centre by using either an efficient transport or road system. The existing rail system would be a good place to start.”

Stefan Smith asked: “How is this making Leeds a better place to live and work, when no one can get to work due to the non-essential so-called improvements? The cycle lanes are a joke – no one uses them.”

Wayne Richardson said: “They don’t want cars in the city centre. Eventually you’ll only be able to access by bike. Would make more sense if public transport was half decent but unfortunately it’s the absolute pits.”

Jonathan Haran speculated: “Fairly soon the only way to get into Leeds will be to get a flight to Leeds Bradford airport and walk in from there.”

But Richard Edwards had a different view. He said: “Everyone is moaning that they can't drive into Leeds, but you can't drive into a lot of European cities either – and yet Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Barcelona all seem to be surviving and thriving. A bigger issue in the UK is the lack of decent public transport and the fact that people increasingly have no disposable income, whether for retail or leisure, because it's all going on rent, bills and groceries.”