Council highways chiefs will review the road layout at Stanningley Bottom following safety concerns – but claim it is ‘performing well’ in terms of the number of accidents at the junction.
There have been longstanding concerns from local business owners and councillors about the road layout at Stanningley Bottom, following controversial changes first introduced alongside the cycle superhighway linking Leeds and Bradford five years ago.
Renewed calls for action at the junction were made last year by Phil Townend, proprietor of Philip Nicholas barbers. He has been leading calls for improvements in the area.
A number of improvements were completed by the council in early 2018 – including fixing safety concerns over the mini roundabouts, introducing textured over-run areas and a larger central margin in middle of the road.
Mr Townend said last year the new road surface ‘degraded quite quickly’ and resembled a ‘patchwork quilt’.
Earlier this year the driver of an Audi car involved in a police chase crashed into Creating Utopia Tattoo Studio and Philip Nicholas barbers, badly damaging both businesses.
A Leeds City Council spokesperson this week told West Leeds Dispatch confirmed a review would take place. In a statement, the council said:
“Our road safety work is guided by recorded collisions to the police and from that perspective, the new road layout at Stanningley Bottoms is generally performing well.
“The recent collision involving damage to a building is still under police investigation and is not believed to be related to the junction layout.
“Following a recent meeting on site, officers are committed to undertaking a review of Stanningley Bottoms with the aim of providing any recommendations for improvements to elected members in the next six weeks.”
Councillors Andrew and Amanda Carter (Cons, Calverley & Farsley), along with Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew, recently met senior highways engineers at Stanningley Bottom to discuss the mounting number of complaints about road safety, and the recent crash. Cllr Andrew Carter said:
“We had a very constructive meeting and the Highways department have promised to address our concerns about the road layout and safety of pedestrians and motorists as a matter of urgency. To be frank it’s not acceptable that it’s taken so long for the council to respond positively, after we have been raising the issue for so long, but at least we appear to be getting somewhere now.”
