By John Baron
Calls have been made to reduce the speed of drivers in residential estates in ‘outer’ west Leeds.
Councillors sitting on the outer west community committee this afternoon heard council officers say the number of deaths and serious injuries on the city’s roads had plateaued before Covid, before steadily rising again after the pandemic.
They heard that the council’s Vision Zero project will help deliver the ambition that by 2040 no-one will be killed or suffer serious injuries on roads in Leeds.
Meeting chair Cllr Amanda Carter (Cons, Calverley & Farsley) said: “I am very pleased we want to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads. Speeding traffic through residential areas [across outer West Leeds] is a major issue.
“The new speed cameras on the A647 are very welcome however we have people running through estates at dangerous speeds, which need tackling.”
Her calls were echoed by Farnley & Wortley councillor Adrian McCluskey (Lab) who pointed to residents’ complaints that Geldard Road was being used as a “racetrack”.
And Councillor Andrew Carter (Cons, Calverley & Farsley) added concerns about Farsley Town Street. “If the road is clear I have seen cars, quad bikes and also buses being driven far too quickly on that stretch of road.
“Businesses are very worried that there will be a serious accident. We have got to get some action on the ground.”
The outer west community committee is made up of nine councillors from the Calverley & Farsley, Farnley & Wortley, and Pudsey wards. It has five Conservative councillors, three Labour and one Green.
Follow WLD‘s coverage of the Outer West Community Committee here.
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There’s only one answer to this, more traffic Police. Speed bumps don’t work, idiots just speed up between them, in the meantime the rest of us suffer damaged suspension, the same for speed cameras, unless they use average speed ones everywhere. I’m sure the 20mph limits do have some effect, but local residents seem to be some of the worst for not respecting those and flouting them all the time.
I’d love to know who in their right mind thinks people are speeding up Farsley Town St. Its so rammed with parked cars it’s impossible to get above 15mph!
Perhaps the councillors rather than constantly throwing up speed cameras and bumps might actually look at road design? Start with the ring road towards Hirsforth roundabout and the junctions that allow traffic to cut across all the lanes!
Stand and watch the electronic speed indicator board on Old Road for a few minutes. Almost every vehicle is doing over 20 mph with quite a few hitting 30 mph. Same on Richmond Road, 20 mph limit but suffers constantly from boy racers trying to set new land speed records. I’ve even seen BMW’s using the patch of grass at the junction of Cote Lane and Cotefields Avenue opposite Farfield School to do donuts and burnouts whilst the kids from Farfield are around.
The biggest issue on Farsley Town Street right now is the parking situation blocking the flow of traffic, particularly the sections outside the old Liberal Club and Doyles of Farsley/Sunny Bank Mill. I would like to see the councillors implement something like this:
1. Make the whole length of Farsley Town Street no parking from South Drive by the library all the way down to Sutcliffe’s greengrocer to improve traffic flow.
2. The off-street parking spaces on Andrew Street, Charles Street and behind the Old Hall pub to be made short stay only up to 90 minutes. Currently these often seem to be full of staff parking for the full day preventing shoppers from being able to park. Flat fee of 50p should apply payable on site by contactless/debit card.
3. Long stay parking directed to use Pudsey Civic Hall car park and/or agree with the owners of Sunny Bank Mill to use a portion of their car park as long stay. Flat fee of £3 per day should apply payable on site by contactless/debit card.
4. Install bay sensors in the car parks (including the Co-Op car park and parking in Sunny Bank Mill) to count how many parking bays are available in each car park and display them on an electronic sign at top and bottom of Town Street to direct drivers to the correct off-street car parks.
5. Installation of additional EV charging points from a different provider at Pudsey Civic Hall and Andrew Street. Currently the one charger in Charles Street seems to spend most of its life out of order. The old Lloyds Bank office at Dawsons Corner which has now closed down has some 7 kW Pod Point EV chargers sat not being used but they are inaccesible behind the security barrier, can an agreement be reached with the building owner to make these available to the public?