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The pandemic has accelerated changes that will see future developments in the centre of Leeds moving away from retail towards other uses, a new report has stated.
Leeds City Council Officers are set to be presented with a report that has highlighted the changes to the way space is used brought about by the pandemic.
According to the report, change that would have ten five years was compressed into six months. It noted that: “Before the coronavirus pandemic we knew that the way we worked and shopped was already changing.” However, it added: “The crisis has altered these further and work and leisure patterns now appear to be accelerating previous trends, such as working from home.”
This has clear implications for the future if city centre construction. It means fewer new office buildings and less high street retail, meaning existing buildings will be repurposed for other things to reflect different usage of the city centre as a place to live, work and play. The same will apply to new construction projects.
Among the ways the report said the city centre could gain a new lease of life would be for a major focus on culture and leisure, with more green open spaces and better public transport access being key priorities.
While scaffolders in Leeds may be more interested in the buildings they will be helping to construct or refurbish for new purposes, the aim to create more green space might mean developments incorporate such ideas into plans, with brownfield sites being redeveloped with new buildings adjacent to freshly-created open space.
The kind of model that might be adopted is already in evidence in other cities undergoing rapid change.
For instance, across the Pennines in Manchester, the most visible sign of change is the appearance of a plethora of skyscrapers, but projects also include the new Mayfield project, where a former railway station and derelict former warehouses are being transformed in a scheme that not only provides new homes and commercial space, but a 6.5 acre park based around the River Medlock.
The Medlock scheme will provide Manchester with its first new park since 1926 and provide some greenery in a city centre sorely lacking it. The same may be said for Birmingham, although this was helped by the creation of Eastside Park near the new HS2 terminal in 2012, the first new park in the city in 130 years.
In much the same way, Leeds city centre also lacks greenery, in contrast to inner suburbs where people can enjoy open spaces such Woodhouse Moor, Armley Park and Cross Flatts Park.
The issue of public transport may be more pressing for Leeds than most cities, due to its sparse rail network that excludes the north-east of the city altogether, as well as the lack of any metro tram or underground systems of the kinds enjoyed by cities like Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield, following the collapse of the Leeds Supertram scheme in 2005.
Responsibility for dealing with this issue falls to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Its 2040 Transport strategy acknowledges the need for “better choices for communities not served by heavy rail”, but did not include any revived plans for a light rail or metro service, instead focusing on increasing the number of journeys made by bus or rail.
