Greenside Greenway Progress Update

~ Greenside Greenway ~ Leave a comment

Even though we will have a little while to wait until the outcome of the planning application, we are confident that the full infill of the railway cutting will be rejected by Leeds City Council.

Again, thanks to all our supporters for submitting objections, at the last count we were well over 350! If you know anyone that still needs to submit one, it appears the portal is still open!

In anticipation of the planning application being rejected, we are pressing ahead with obtaining funding for the feasibility study. To that end, Andrew, David, and Martin met on 4th December, with representatives of Sustrans to talk about possible avenues. We are still in need of a fundraising coordinator, so if you think that could be you please get in touch by emailing greensidegreenway@gmail.com.

Our plan now is to contact organisations that have previously told us they may be able to match fund some of the cost. Once we know how much they are prepared to match fund, we will know how much we need to raise as an organisation.

We welcome any help or suggestions, so if you have any ideas for funding, please do get in touch.

Thank you

~ Greenside Greenway ~ Leave a comment
Many thanks to the 370 community residents, Councillors, Members of Parliament, Sustrans, Yorkshire wildlife Trust, Highways England (who own and maintain the tunnel and road bridge ), Leeds City Council Transport Policy and Conservation departments for their comments / objections.
What this full infill application did was make residents aware of the future possibilities for the redundant rail line as well as the history, heritage,and wildlife issues in Pudsey.
We now await Leeds City Council Outer West / South Planning Officer report and date for the panel meeting.
It seems that anyone else wanting to comment / object can still do via the council portal site up to 30th November 2018.
Once again many thanks for the time and effort in the objections.
Greenside Greenway Committee.

Deadline for full infill objections extended to 13th November

~ Greenside Greenway ~ 1 Comment

Hi everyone, some good news. Due to the massive response (290 objections thus far), and issues with the online submission portal, the City Council have extended the deadline for submissions to 13th November 2018. This date is valid for submissions via the portal, email or letter.

Full instructions on how to object can be found on our previous announcement here: Instructions on how to object.

Stop the tunnel from being lost forever!

~ Greenside Greenway ~ 13 Comments

The owners of the railway cutting have applied for planning permission for a full infill of the cutting. We are asking all supporters of our group to object to the planning application. You can do this in a number of ways

The easiest way is to visit Leeds Planning Website, click the ‘comment’ tab, and then leave your response (you will have to create an account to do this). The deadline for objections via this method is 13th November 2018.

Alternatively you can write to Planning Services, Merrion House, 110 Merrion Centre, Leeds, LS2 8BB. Be sure to include the reference: 18/05570/FU.

If you wish to email, please use planning@leeds.gov.uk Please remember to put the planning reference (18/05570/FU) in the subject line.

We have included some points below that you may wish to use to inform your objection.

  • Road Safety–EP homes have stated they expect 3,373 HGV wagons through the town for 52 weeks. Adding return journeys, this means, a total of 6746 trips, nearly one wagon every five minutes, six days a week. No route is specified so wagons could use any street, passing local schools, nurseries, care homes, sheltered housing, etc from all directions. It should also be noted that the type of trucks that will likely be used will be tipper trucks that have a disproportionately poor road safety record.
  • Disruption– Noise, dirt, dust, muddy roads, smells, will affect households in the vicinity and along roads through the town for at least a year.
  • Destruction– Historical heritage of tunnel, cutting and Carlisle Road bridge, not to mention access through a conservation area, and lack of access to the tunnel for maintenance, inspections and machinery.
  • Prevention– of proposed Greenside Greenway and its pending feasibility study. A full infill will stop the reopening of the redundant railway route forever, and deny us and future generations the opportunity of a safe green recreational and commuting route including future links to Leeds and Spen Valley Greenway.
  • Ecology-Infill will affect the habitat of the three species of bats who roost and use the area for foraging, Filling Carlisle road bridge to the roof, will also destroy these areas. A small gap in front of the tunnel will affect bat access, as well as repairs.
  • Poor record– The applicant have not adhered to all the planning conditions that were placed on the part infill, Leeds city Council have asked them to stop infilling on at least one occasion.

Fingers crossed for the Big Lottery Fund

~ Greenside Greenway ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday we showed representatives from the Big Lottery Fund the proposed route of phase one of the greenway. We have submitted an application to fund the feasibility study and are expecting to hear back in September. We are planning further fundraising submissions, but are just limited because of volunteer time. If this is something you would be willing to help with please do email us using greensidegreenway@gmail.com

Laying out options for accessing the greenway from Carlisle Road
Checking the abutments that used to form the railway bridge over Tyersal Lane

 

A great day at Pudsey carnival

~ Greenside Greenway
We’re here.
Three’s a crowd.
Explaining the route.

We had a great day at Pudsey Carnival today, showing our idea for the greenway to local people. The response we had was overwhelmingly positive.

Thanks the organisers and to the people that donated, it will really help the campaign to get off the ground. Thanks also to our Membership Secretary, Andy W, who constructed a fantastic display in the gazebo kindly lent to us by Leeds Cycling Campaign.

If you want to keep up-to-date with the campaign, you can sign up for email newsletters here.

We hope to be back at the carnival next year, showing the progress that we have made. Please book the same weather!