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Progress on new Horsforth station plans

30 January 2008

From West Yorkshire

Metro Chairman Councillor Ryk Downes has welcomed news that its planned rail station at Horsforth Woodside Quarry has taken a step closer to becoming a reality.

Last week, Leeds City Council£s West Plans Panel agreed a package of public transport improvements to facilitate this development on the busy Harrogate rail line and adjacent to Leeds outer ring road. These include:

• £300,000 for feasibility work on the introduction of tram-trains
• £1.25m towards construction of a new rail halt
• land for a proposed multi-storey car park for up to 300 cars:
• £500,000 for developing local bus services planned to link the site with the Moor Grange Estate, Holt Park, West Park and Horsforth.

Bus and train use will be promoted as the developer will also pay for a free MetroCard for all households on the site.

"With major development planned for the area, good public transport will be essential, so last week£s announcement is extremely good news," said Councillor Downes.

"As well as being a way of reducing traffic congestion in the area, a new station would complement Metro£s plans to introduce continental-style tram-trains on the Harrogate line," he continued.

"Tram-trains calling at a modern Horsforth Woodside Quarry station, designed around their planned introduction, would be able to provide local people with the frequent and quick links to and from the centre of Leeds they will need."

"This is an important step forward and demonstrates the benefits of Metro taking a proactive approach to the public transport needs of new developments."

Background information:

The Harrogate Line is a busy commuter route linking Leeds with Headingley, Horsforth, Harrogate, Knaresborough and York. Like West Yorkshire£s other rail routes it has seen high growth in passenger numbers over the past 10 years.

The developer will be contributing £20,000 towards improving cycle ways in the area.

There will be funding for a direct extension of the number 56 bus into the site.

As part of its 25-Year Transport Vision for the Leeds City Region, Metro wants to see tram-trains introduced along the line.

Tram-trains are a hybrid of trams and trains that can run on existing railway lines and also on rails set into the highway and into and around towns and cities.

Savings made by running the lighter tram-trains could be invested in on-street extensions into the centres of Leeds and York, and new links to areas of growing employment and Leeds/Bradford International Airport.

Multi-million pound sports and fitness centre unveiled in Horsforth

Trinity and All Saints College is about unveil a new £3.2 million sports and fitness centre on Brownberrie Lane, the first phase in a massive expansion project.

Overall the college is investing £6 million on its Horsforth site in a bid to gain University status.

The refurbished sports facilities are open to the public and feature state-of-the-art gym equipment as well as courts for badminton, squash, table tennis, volleyball and five-a-side football.

Commercial services manager at the college Damon Shaw said: "I'm very excited about the prospect of delivering a high quality new sports facility to Horsforth. The centre will provide the very best equipment and a mix of activities to rival any sports facility in the area."

The college currently has over 2.500 students, and wants to increase that number to 5,000 in five years in order to apply for university status and award its own degrees.

Work is also underway on five en-suite accommodation blocks on Brownberrie Lane, which will include 161 bedrooms.

A planning application for the blocks this April met with 472 objections from local residents concerned about parking chaos.

The sports centre will be officially opened on November 1 by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Brian Cleasby, and the Bishop of Leeds, Rt Rev Arthur Roche.