Woodhouse Lane Gateway: £20m transformative travel plans unveiled for key city centre route

Detailed £20.9m plans have been published aiming to improve journeys for people walking, cycling and using public transport along Woodhouse Lane, Blenheim Terrace, Blenheim Walk and Albion Street. The plans follow on from a consultation earlier this year where the public were asked what issues they faced along the route, changes they would like to see, and which improvements should be prioritised.

Analysis of the initial consultation saw residents highlighting four key issues along the route:

1. Cycle provision feels unsafe or inadequate
2. Difficult to cross the road
3. Cycle provision isn’t protected from the road or pedestrians
4. Congestion or volume of traffic

The four key changes residents wanted to see were:

1. Protected cycle tracks
2. New pedestrian and cycle crossings
3. New greenery
4. Wider pavements

When asked which changes should be prioritised for the route, residents chose:

1. Improvements to the pedestrian environment to make it safer for people walking, wheeling and crossing the road
2. Improvements to cycling facilities to make it safer and easier to cycle along the route
3. Improvements to make the route accessible to everyone, including disabled people
4. Improvements to make bus journeys more reliable

You can find out more about the results of the initial consultation here.

Results from the initial consultation have helped create travel proposals for the route that Connecting Leeds would now like you to feed back on. These include:

• Segregated cycle tracks along the route, including on Woodhouse Lane, Cookridge Street, Blackman Lane, Blenheim Terrace and St Mark’s Road.
• Wider or upgraded pavements for pedestrians, and the potential for street cafes.
• New public spaces with trees, benches and greenery located at Cavendish Road (near the Parkinson Building), Lodge Street, and Hilary Place.
• Simplifying traffic movements at key junctions, allowing them to work more efficiently, reducing bus delays and making it safer for pedestrians and cyclists to cross.
• New or extended bus lanes to create quicker and more reliable bus journeys.
• Wider, straight across pedestrian crossings, for simpler and more accessible ways to cross for people walking, wheeling and cycling.
• The removal of the central bus island on Woodhouse Lane (near Walkabout), replacing it with a traditional pavement bus shelter, creating a simpler road layout for all road users.
• Upgraded bus waiting areas, with improved bus shelters, real-time information screens, and the possibility of self-seedum roofs on some shelters.
• Continuous crossings on selected streets along the route.
• New trees and landscaping along the route.

The scheme is run in partnership with West Yorkshire Combined Authority, with £20.5m funding coming from the £830million City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), made possible through the West Yorkshire Mayoral devolution deal, and a further £400,000 coming from section 106 developer contributions.

The proposals span 2km in length, with three of the city’s universities – the University of Leeds, Leeds Beckett University, and Leeds Arts University - as well as leisure and hospitality businesses, such as The Light, Merrion Centre and St John’s centre located on the route.

The Woodhouse Lane Gateway is a popular route for students and is already heavily used by people walking, cycling and using the bus. It is one of the busiest cycle routes in Leeds with over 1,000 cyclists using it daily, however, it suffers from a high casualty rate with 161 reported casualties happening since 2014, including thirty-two collisions where people were seriously injured. Over 50% of the casualties involved a person walking or cycling.

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council’s deputy leader and executive member for economy, transport and sustainable development, said:

“This route is a key artery into and out of Leeds City Centre linking it to the busy neighbourhoods of Woodhouse, Hyde Park, Headingley and beyond. However, it’s current layout makes it unsafe for all road users but especially those who walk, wheel or cycle. The council is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, and enticing people to use more active and sustainable modes of travel, as per our Leeds Transport Strategy, plays a big part in this. The plans will not only uplift the look of the area and create new public spaces for people to enjoy, they will transform how people get around, creating alternative travel options for residents while aiming to reduce casualty numbers and achieve the Leeds Safe Roads Vision Zero 2040 Strategy goal of eliminating road deaths and serious injury on Leeds’ roads by 2040.  

I urge anyone who uses the route to have their say on the plans before the consultation ends.” 

Cllr Peter Carlill, Deputy Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee, said:

“I’m pleased that plans are progressing to make this busy route easier and safer for people to walk, wheel, cycle and use public transport. I’d encourage the public to have their say on these new proposals as we build a greener, better-connected West Yorkshire that works for all.”

Have your say before 11.59pm on Monday 16 December 2024:

1. Find out more information and complete a short 10-minute survey here. 
2. Attend a drop-in event, see the proposal boards, chat to a member of the team and fill in an online or paper survey. There are two drop-in events:
   1. Thursday 21^st November 2024 – 10am-2pm, The Merrion Centre, LS2 8NG.
   2. Tuesday 26^th November 2024 – 10am-2pm, Parkinson’s Court, LS2 9HB.
3. Request a paper survey and free post it back to us. Email or phone us for a paper survey on connectingleeds@leeds.gov.uk or 0113 336 8868.