Please see below received yesterday from Trevor Bavage for information.

“Hi Everyone,

Leeds City Council is holding an all day Plans Panel Meeting beginning at 9.30am on June 25th, at the Civic Hall, specifically to consider the latest draft plans for the trolleybus scheme which were released last week.

The plans can be downloaded from: http://www.ngtmetro.com/documents/NGT+Draft+Plans.htm

Please come along to show your opposition and to hear West Park Residents Association and others speak against the scheme.

If you want to object to the draft plans in writing (even only briefly) please email stephen.mcarthur@leeds.gov.uk and put “NGT City Plans Panel June 25th” in the subject header and remember to include your name and address otherwise the objection will not count. Please do this before the 25th if you’ve got time!!

Hope to see you on 25th”.

Please share this news with your friends on Facebook and help keep everyone in the local area informed of what is happening.

Following yesterday’s Deputation, below are some excerpts from an article in today’s Yorkshire Evening Post:

“Senior councillors have branded Leeds’s controversial trolleybus scheme a “white elephant” – and are calling for bosses to back off from the project entirely.

Opposition councillors spoke out in force against the project at this week’s full meeting of Leeds City Council. They were commenting after campaigners from across Leeds joined forces to urge the council chamber to reconsider the trolleybus proposals, which they branded “conceptually flawed” and “not fit for purpose”. Leeds has pledged £19.3 million as part of its share in the development costs of the £250m scheme…Conservative Councillor Barry Anderson said: “There’s no experience in this country of this type of trolleybus system. Even Budapest, which is often quoted, is giving up on it. “The time savings [with trolleybus travel] will not be as great as some are saying. It is possible to use electric and hybrid vehicles to get the same performance. It’s going to be a waste of money because it’s not going to be the 21st century transport that we need as a city. We need to think again.” Colleague Coun Clive Fox lashed out at what he said was “propaganda” in favour of the scheme, adding: “There’s no way we should be spending this money. The council should back off.” Construction on the planned £250m NGT (New Generation Transport) trolleybus network – drawn up after Leeds’s Supertram light rail scheme was axed in 2005 – is expected to begin in 2016. However, concerns have also been expressed about the estimated 2020 completion date of the scheme, and the “finite” council and Government funding attached to it.”

For the full text of this article please see link below:

Yorkshire Evening Post

P.S. Don’t forget to come to tomorrow’s Public Meeting at the Civic Hall at 10am- 12noon, room 6/7 if you can!

The two councillors in charge of the scheme will be answering questions from the public and an opportunity like this is unlikely to arise again.

Councillor Lewis, the head of Highways, will be

At 10am this Saturday the 11th May, Councillor Richard Lewis, the head of Highways, will be at Leeds Civic Hall to answer questions on the proposed trolleybus scheme. Councillor James Lewis, the head of Metro, will also be attending the meeting and answering questions.

Both councillors are strong supporters of the scheme, which involves running trolleybuses from a proposed massive park and ride at Stourton, through Belle Isle, Hunslet and the city centre, to Holt Park.

The proposed route would take the trolleybuses across Woodhouse Moor, across the fields where horses graze on Headingley Hill, and through the Shire Oak Road conservation area. It would involve demolition of shops at Hyde Park Corner, a house on Wood Lane and the stone cottages at the junction of Otley Road and Alma Road. The broad grass verges in Far Headingley would be tarmaced over, and all the trees on the central reservation between West Park and Lawnswood would be cut down. The central reservation itself would be tarmaced over. And a massive park and ride would be built on the playing fields at Bodington.

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Hi Everyone

A reminder!

The next A660 Joint Council meeting is:
This Wednesday May 8th at 7pm (not at the usual venue)

The Cardigan Centre, 145-153 Cardigan Rd, Leeds LS6 1LJ
(the usual venue – HEART – is unavailable this evening)

Everybody welcome!

Agenda for May and Minutes Attached

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