By John Baron
Delayed plans to breathe new life into an unofficial car park on waste land next to Pudsey Parish Church will be decided within the next few weeks, Leeds City Council has confirmed.
As reported in March, the council wants to replace the parking area with a garden area featuring planting and a commemorative installation marking the Queen’s platinum jubilee,
But local residents and businesses are objecting to the proposals, saying it will increase parking problems for nearby residents and businesses. A petition with almost 200 signatures was collected and handed into the council.
A Leeds City Council spokesperson told West Leeds Dispatch:
“Following the consultation exercise a decision regarding the project is expected in early July 2022.”
Each council ward in Leeds has been allocated £50,000 by Leeds council as part of a programme to support local town centres.
The proposal for Pudsey features an area at the junction with Church Lane and Radcliffe Lane, which has been used as an informal and unadopted car park for around 40 years, and add planting and low-level planters.
A commemorative installation marking the Queen’s platinum jubilee would be installed, alongside a timeline feature. A bench would also be included on the small patch of land, which would be maintained by volunteers from the Pudsey in Bloom group.
The original plan was the deliver the garden by mid-May, but the consultation was extended until Monday, 6 May following public interest in the proposals.
Why would 200 people object to the betterment of a piece of waste land which is used for free parking by people in the vicinity? Surely a garden or public space is an improvement on what is there at the moment??
I am living in Lawrence court chapeltown and I’m speaking on behalf of the residents we’re all sickened off by the people who think they can park their cars vans and trucks in our private parking that’s for the people who live in Lawrence court who have to pay for the upkeep and maintenance of their private property there’s 3signs telling people that the parking is for residents who own properties in Lawrence court the people who have businesses on chapeltown also think that they have a right to let their staff and customers park in Lawrence court ie the tanning lounge and the cafeteria buttylisious we are tired of going to the shops and coming home to find that we have to park elsewhere because someone is in our private parking and it’s usually a customer of the cafeteria or the tanning lounge