Land purchase to extend park-and-ride up for discussion

The proposed purchase of a site at Temple Green in Leeds to extend the existing park-and-ride facilities will be discussed by the council at a meeting next week (19 December 2018).Leeds City Council opened park-and-ride facilities at Elland Road in 2014 and at Temple Green in 2017. The latter is currently about 85 per cent full at peak times and is expected to be full during 2019.It is now proposed to extend the facility by from the current 1,000 spaces by about 400 through the purchase of an adjacent 2.52-acre site at Gateway 45 from Aire Valley Land.The purchase would be funded through the Leeds Public Transport Investment Programme (LPTIP).The council’s executive will discuss the proposed acquisition on 19th December, with members asked to approve the terms and give the go-ahead to the director of city development to complete the deal.The addition of the Temple Green park-and-ride facilities has helped improve public transport connections in the Aire Valley Enterprise Zone, supporting the creation of 500 jobs and attracting global businesses to Leeds.The park-and-ride expansion forms part of the council’s wider Connecting Leeds Transport Strategy, which also includes investment in rail stations, bus routes and improvements to the city centre gateway.Planning applications were submitted by engineering consultancy WSP in October for the new Stourton Park & Ride to the south of the city, and the Elland Road Park & Ride extension.