Pudsey Labour Party have issued a ‘hands off our bus station’ warning over a Conservative initiative aiming to breathe new life into Pudsey town centre.
As reported by WLD, a committee made up of Conservative politicians, business leaders and residents will be formed to help attract more investment to improve Pudsey town centre.
One idea could see the existing bus station area transformed into a town square for events, special markets and other activities.
Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew, Cllr Andrew Carter (Calverley & Farsley) and Cllr Simon Seary (Pudsey) say they will be working closely with residents to draw up plans to improve investment in Pudsey town centre and make the town a more vibrant, exciting and attractive place for residents and businesses alike.
But Pudsey Labour Party has warned against any proposals to lose the bus station from its current site and has called for transparent community engagement over the project. Member Chris Dunford Kelk said:
“The bus station opened at the end of 2010, having cost £3.25 million (including associated highways works). It provides people with shelter and seating whilst waiting for the buses, makes changing from one bus to another easier, and keeps the town centre free from the congestion that buses stopping on the roadside used to cause.
“Thousands of people use the bus station, to travel to and from work, to visit Pudsey’s shops and park, and to travel to our neighbouring cities.
“The sheer waste of money in wanting to write off the millions of pounds that were invested in the bus station is astounding. Not to mention that we are in a climate emergency and should be encouraging people to use more environmentally-friendly methods of transport rather than taking steps that will inevitably push people into higher car use.
“We are always keen to make improvements to Pudsey and look forward to playing an active part in the committee that they are proposing to create to improve investment in the town centre.
“However, we will fight tooth and nail against the vandalism to the town’s infrastructure that the Conservatives are proposing and we urge the people of Pudsey to join our campaign to save our bus station.”
Mr Kelk said that the bus station was planned, commissioned and built as a joint initiative between Metro and the council, which at the time was a Conservative-led administration.
WLD spoke to Pudsey councillors Simon and Dawn Seary, who said the town square proposal was currently ‘just one of many ideas’ and was at an early stage. The idea was to create a ‘pop up area’ – almost a ‘mini Millennium Square’ – in Pudsey.
They said even if the town square idea happened, it wouldn’t leave Pudsey without good quality facilities for buses. They said good transport links were of paramount importance:
“It’s good that this has started discussions in the town – that is what we wanted.
“We want to see a more vibrant Pudsey Town Centre, with more shops and attracting new businesses. We want to bring more people into Pudsey Town Centre. We’re looking at this as a ‘what if’ scenario and at what might be done, were we able to secure funding to improve the area.
“We wouldn’t be getting rid of bus connectivity in Pudsey Town Centre or stopping buses, far from it, there would still be covered bus stops.
“We’ve always wanted a park and ride at New Pudsey Station to help take some of the pressure away from the town centre, with buses linking into it, and this idea jumps on the back of that.”
They said they were also very supportive of plans to see the proposed Leeds-Bradford mass transit system come through Pudsey, to further improve connectivity. “That could be massive for the town,” they added.
They also said that if the town square idea was progressed, there would be detailed public consultation run by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, who would ultimately decide the future of the bus station.
As part of the initiative, they plan to put together a committee to explore funding options that may be available to facilitate this and the views and ideas of residents.
Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew said last week:
“Myself and my colleagues all strongly agree that more needs to be done to ensure Pudsey’s full potential is being realised.
“I am particularly keen to ensure the transport issues we face are addressed, and that we do all we can to attract more investment. Most importantly, we want to get the ideas on how this can be achieved from people who are living and working in Pudsey, and I look forward to formulating a Committee to do this.”
“The sheer waste of money in wanting to write off the millions of pounds that were invested in the bus station is astounding” says the Labour Party, who voted to close the expensive new visitor centre in Pudsey Park.
Who wants to use the dirty, expensive, unreliable buses in the Covid world? No thank you. Pudsey (and Leeds as a whole) needs better facilities for people to get around by walking, cycling, motorcycling and e-scooter. 1 unreliable electric car charging machine hidden behind the leisure centre and a couple of bicycle bays on the corner where the public toilets used to be is pathetic.
How about widening & extending the existing footpath that runs from New Pudsey Station to the Owlcotes Centre further along the railway line then branch off up to Pudsey. Then add more cycle storage & toilet facilities etc at both ends.
How about they get on with addressing the numerous transport issues that have plagued the area for years such as:
1. The traffic lights where Richardshaw Lane crosses the bypass have no pedestrian crossing, pedestrians have to risk their lives running across the slip roads whilst trying to avoid being run over. The traffic lights need upgrading with a pedestrian crossing facility or sensors to hold the traffic when people are trying to cross the road.
2. As the previous commenter noted it’s too difficult to get around the area on foot or bike without breathing diesel fumes or getting run over by a truck along the busy roads. The existing network of footpaths away from the busy roads in Pudsey/Farsley/Calverley need to be maintained and expanded. A lot of the paths and trails aren’t visible on mapping/route planner apps either.
3. The issues of parking in Pudsey centre, too many people park all day in the leisure centre & Lidgett Hill car parks leaving no room for shoppers to park. More bays need should be converted to short stay and introduce a small charge of ~£3 per day for long stay parking, with the money used to maintain & expand walking/cycling facilities in the area.
4. There’s no secure parking space for bicycles or motorcycles.
5. More public EV charging is needed for visitors and local residents who have no off-street parking at home to charge.
What has any of this to do with Cllr Carter?
Stick to worrying about a few quad bikes on Leeds Road.
The local Labour Spokesperson says that the LCC was Conservative run, well it wasn’t in 2010 or earlier in 2008, when all the consultations were going on.
The statement also shows how out of touch the local Labour Party are also, because plain and simply the present bus station has been detested and ridiculed by the majority of Pudsey Residents since it’s opening.
David, actually neither you nor the Labour spokesperson are correct.
The council was actually led by a coalition between the Conservatives AND the Liberal Democrats, propped up by the Morley Borough Independents. I’m sure Cllr Carter felt he ran the show, but the joint leader was initially the late, great Cllr Mark Harris (Lib Dem), who was succeeded by Cllr David Brett (Lib Dem).
Labour spent six years in opposition, from 2004, before returning to power in May 2010: https://www.theguardian.com/leeds/2010/may/17/leeds-local-election-leeds-city-council and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_City_Council.
Start by having shops in pudsey instead of hairdressers estate agents and takeaways
First of all forget about the consultation’s ,who was it who gave the bus station the green light (also sanctioning the work and who got the contracts)now once again they want to throw more money at a project that they will oversee where the money goes and who gets it.Ask the people of pudsey if they would like to keep the bus station,but have it made safe and well patrolled (along with the park).All these people who don’t live in pudsey do not have to run a gauntlet of feral youths whenever they go out day or night.Stop wasting our money and invest in giving the people of Pudsey a safer quality of life.
This suggestion was made ny a group of “business men” what do they think they are going to put in this “town square” to me its obvious that some fat cat will turn it into a carpark and milk people for parking charges. I am sorry to say that pudsey market is dead or dying. The bus station is used by alot of people i realize that an area like Pudsey has difficulty with modern architecture but the busis needed. The simple truth why Pudsey centre is dead is there is nothing to go for no big shops or restaurants. I am afraid Pudsey centre has been swamped by too many charity shops and estate agents.
I would like to remind people that busses are an environmentally friendly form of public trasport that not everyone can drive or wants to drive, that cars are a luxury and not a nessecity. I suspect alot of people complaining about bus station are not the people using the busses.