By John Baron
Ambitious plans for a pedestrian footbridge over the A6120 outer ring road have been delayed due to rising costs, Leeds City Council has confirmed.
The new bridge is intended to link the communities of Calverley and Farsley and is part of the wider £23m Connecting West Leeds scheme to upgrade the Leeds outer ring road.
The bridge is the final part of the scheme which includes new footpaths and cycleways, junction upgrades and a reduced 50mph speed limit on the A6120 between Horsforth roundabout and Dawsons Corner.
Work was originally due to start earlier this year.
A Leeds City Council spokesperson told WLD today: “The council remains committed to delivering a new pedestrian footbridge over the A6120 at Calverley Lane, helping improve connections between Calverley and Farsley and making it easier and safer for people to walk in the area.
“We are reviewing the design and scope of the footbridge to identify a solution that can be delivered within the available budget, while still meeting the project’s objectives.
“We will provide a further update on timescales once this work has been completed.”
The £23m Connecting West Leeds programme had been supported by £20m from the government’s Levelling Up Fund, with the remainder from local sources. The scheme was initially green lit in 2021 by then Chancellor Rishi Sunak, followed by a community consultation launched by the council in November that year.
WLD reported in February 2026 that council planning officers had signed off a construction and management plan as part of the conditions attached to the initial planning application.
The aim of the overall scheme is to reduce peak-time congestion and delays on the Outer Ring Road, between Dawson’s Corner in Pudsey and Fink Hill in Horsforth. It also aims to improve the infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists and link the surrounding communities with alternative travel choices.
How much would an underpass tunnel be instead?
Fifth largest economy in the world and we can’t afford a footbridge. Anyone explain why?
Fifth largest GDP overall because of total population. Around 21st GDP per capita , a more accurate measure of a countries wealth.
Now, I’ve got to declare that I’m not an economist, but won’t the cost only increase even more, if it is delayed?
Like the tram system, it will never be built, but will have millions spent on consultants anyway.
Preposterous idea in the first place. How many people walk between Farsley and Calverley….it would be cheaper to pay for taxis!
Anyroad… this is all completely ignoring fact that the promised ” dualling” of the Ring Road 40 years ago never happened. NOTHING ELSE will ever improve the 3rd world road that is an embarrassment to the city.
If the road ever does get “dualled”, such an overbridge would need to be demolished and a new longer one built. But if you build a tunnel instead, it can simply be extended when if ever the road gets dualled. Simples thinking. Well, just thinking at all, really.
An absolute disgrace if this does not go ahead. Thin end of the wedge news before final cancellation? We’ll see. If it had been built when planned the inflated pice would have been far less inflated. What stands out here is that something of this magnitude should have been designed and placed on order when the work and planning commenced on the original phase of development yeards ago. Clearly it wasn’t. Why? It now appears that it was anticipated at the time that the budget was going to be shot to pieces for that phase.
However, traffic islands at the end of Calverley Bridge and Calverley Lane and road signs were quickly put in place at much expense, to stop right turns onto the ring road though, ultimately creating millions of extra miles over time travelling up to Horsforth roundabout and back and also adding to congestion at Horsforth roundabout. Money well spent???
Next in line for cancellation (also part of the early phase), the link from the cycle/wheelchair/pushchair path to the canal towpath ? Who knows, watch this space. Apparently that was also not designed and placed on order at the appropriate stage.
How many predestinations would realistically use a footbridge that makes them walk so much further than simply dodging the traffic in a straight line? Has the designer tried pushing a wheelchair with a large adult around such a bridge? Why is so much money wasted on impractical “solutions”. An underpass seems a much better idea – but then the problem of antisocial behaviour raises its ugly head.
Thay wast money because they can , it’s not theirs at all, build a bridge here, build one there, as a previous writer wrote, have the planners ever pushed a wheel chair up and over any bridge, then what about coming down the other side of the bridge, no… Some people live in cuckoo land, p.s. some reason I can’t post my comments,as supposed to have said this before, sorry but I didn’t, I was just agree ING with other comments.