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A new public consultation has been launched on proposals for the construction of a new railway station to serve Leeds-Bradford Airport.
The proposed station would be located on the line that runs from Leeds through the north-western suburbs of the city towards Harrogate. It will be situated to the north of Horsford Station, 360 metres south of the Bramhope Tunnel. If it goes ahead, the new station project will provide up to 5,000 jobs, including some for scaffolders in Leeds.
Councillor Jim Groves, who chairs the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee, noted that the plans have been revised since a previous public consultation on them.
He remarked: “The Parkway Station will help ease current congestion and tackle air quality issues by improving access by public transport and by encouraging fewer people to take to their cars to get to the airport and surrounding areas.”
As well as serving the airport, the station will also provide a link from the city centre to the adjacent employment hub planned for the vicinity, as well as for local residents in the adjacent suburbs of Cookridge and Tinshill. The current plans will also include substantial car parking and a park-and-ride service, as well as secure bike parking facilities.
The original plans produced extensive feedback, with the plans consequently having more landscaping and tree preservation built into them, while reassurances were given that the new services would not involve any station closures or cuts to other services.
However, it was emphasised that there was not funding available to support a branch line to the airport terminal, as this would require a tunnel and cost £350-400 million. Instead, a link from the station to the terminal will be provided via a shuttle bus with an expected connection time of five minutes.
Funding issues were also cited in response to calls for a restoration of the disused Otley to Yeadon line, which still exists but would require extensive new investment to restore passenger services.
The budget for the new station is £42 million, with the cash coming from the Leeds Public Transport Investment Programme.
This money was originally earmarked for the Leeds Trolleybus Scheme, but this fell through and the authority was obliged to find another use for the money or lose it. In response, it drew up plans for three new stations in the city, with the other two being adjacent to the White Rose Shopping Centre in the south of the city and at Thorpe Park on the east side. All three will be built on existing lines.
Some funding will also be used to improve access to the existing stations at Cross Gates, Morley and Horsforth.
Despite having a population of more than 700,000, Leeds has a very limited rail network. While its central station is one of the largest outside London with 16 platforms, there are currently only 14 stations within the city boundaries, with large parts of the north and east of the city lying miles from any line.
In addition, Leeds lacks any supplementary tram or metro services, unlike other northern cities such as Sheffield, Manchester or Newcastle.
