"Biggest consultation ever" promised for Leeds trolleybus replacement

Leeds City Council has a "massive opportunity" for £173m earmarked for the right public transport scheme after the plug was pulled on the trolleybus, but future tranpsort plans need to be "realistic" and "pragmatic," a summit on the future after the scrapping of the scheme reportedly heard.

The Yorkshire Post reported Leeds council leader Cllr Judith Blake as saying after the Friday summit that the authority will hold "the biggest ever consultation about the future of public transport in Leeds" after the Government spiked the trolleybus, which in turn followed the axeing of a planned light rail scheme just over a decade ago.

Cllr Blake said that next time "we have to take the people of Leeds with us," as the summit also heard of the need to "tap into the best national and international brains" to formulate a new strategy, the newspaper said. Mooted ideas included new rail stations, fast bus routes, park-and-ride sites, and even better exploiting Leeds' waterways, it added.

Prior to the summit Bradford's leader had attacked a current "lack of expertise" in transport planning, and the media had also issued a volley of criticism.