Agenda item

The report of the Director of City Development brings to members’ attention details of the consultation on the draft Connecting Leeds Transport Strategy.

(Report and Executive Summary attached)

The report of the Director of City Development, was to bring to members’ attention details of the consultation on the draft Connecting Leeds Transport Strategy.

In attendance for this item were:

o  Paul Foster, Transport Planning Manager

o  Finn Campbell, Team Leader (Forward Planning)

The Community Committee were provided with a presentation of slides to inform the consultation process.

Members’ were informed of the following points:

·  The Transport Strategy has the vision that Leeds is to be a city where you don’t need a car;

·  The objectives of the strategy are to: tackle climate change, deliver inclusive growth; and improve health;

·  The 6 big moves identified to focus on the Transport Strategy are:

De-carbonising transport;

Creating healthier streets, spaces and communities;

Transform the City Centre;

New mobility solutions;

Deliver a mass transit network

It was noted that during the Transport Consultation held in 2016, the feedback from the Inner East area highlighted that the cost of public transport is too high, the importance of bus reliability and accessibility and the need to increase cycle parking provision.

Consultation on the Transport Strategy will be open until 26^th March 2021. A copy of the Transport Strategy was appended to the report and can be found on the Leeds City Council web pages. The Committee also heard that the team are doing a number of webinars, links to these could also be found on the Council’s web pages.

Members discussed the following matters:

·  The importance of communities being able to access all parts of the city, to ensure accessibility for economic opportunities, shops and leisure facilities. Members also discussed the need to ensure transport is made ‘friendlier’, and a suggestion was made that bus shelters be made from plastic and not glass;

·  The mechanisms in place to tackle anti-social behaviour relating to motor/quad bikes;

·  Adding to the healthier streets initiative by tackling on-street parking;

·  Ensuring that all communities are involved in the consultation stages, and the measures in place to tackle language barriers;

·  Encouraging take up of bicycles, and ensuring this is possible for the most deprived communities;

·  Fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour issues related with subways;

·  Incorporating CCTV to Park and Ride schemes, to provide assurances to the community around safety;

·  The role of private hire had been acknowledged, although the importance of ensuring competitive prices across public transport had been expressed.

Members were informed of the following points:

·  There are plans to pilot a ‘flexi bus’ in the Outer East area to tackle connectivity issues, and there will be a possibility for this to be rolled out further. It was confirmed that West Yorkshire Combined Authority have further details in relation to this;

·  Plans for mass transit;

·  Liaison is ongoing with West Yorkshire Police to reduce illegal road activity/behaviour and speeding;

·  It was reported that most cars are only being used less than 5% of the overall time, and the strategy presented that there would be less of a need for private cars;

·  An update was provided on the bike library scheme and it was acknowledged there would be a requirement to fund smaller interventions to ensure accessibility across communities;

·  Efforts are being made on an individual community based approach, in relation to parking and business considerations;

·  Ward Members are encouraged to discuss particular issues with the Traffic Engineering Team, and discuss wider strategic priorities with WYCA on detailed schemes.

The Chair thanked officers for their attendance.

RESOLVED – To note the contents of the report, along with Members comments.