Readers offer mixed views on potential Leeds tramline as Andy Burnham urged to commit

Readers have offered their mixed views on plans to build a tramline in Leeds.

The ‘West Yorkshire Needs a Tram’ campaign group yesterday called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to make a “cast iron pledge” to fully fund a West Yorkshire mass transit system, 33 years after the last attempt at a city tram was approved.

Leeds has been without a light rail or mass transit system since its original tram network was axed in 1959. Plans to restore them were first proposed in 1991 and have included the Supertram scheme that was shelved in 2005 and a proposed trolleybus network that was rejected in 2016.

Now readers have had their say on whether they would support plans to build a tramline in the city, and it’s fair to say the responses were mixed.

“If and when Leeds do get trams (£10 million already spent with little sign of any tramways) then they need to be totally isolated from the road network,” said David Blakeley. “It’s very difficult to get in and out of Leeds in a car. There’s also too many cycleways narrowing roads with more to come.”

Meanwhile, Greg Henson questioned why Leeds should have to fund it. “The irony of Labour scrapping a great tram system in 1959 and then expecting us to pay £2.5 billion to have a smaller system put back in… bore off,” he said.

Questioning the need for trams to begin with, Kawasaki Joan Versys said: “Why trams? Stuck to one route, will cause no end of chaos to other transport for years while it is built. Save the money & build new homes for people.” This was echoed by both Chris Johnson and Chris Martin who said: “Don't want it, the place is already an overcrowded shambles,” and “We don't want it, its a big waste of money.”

Mark Hammill added: “After reading these comments it's clear to see why Leeds is left behind.”

Leeds remains the largest city in Western Europe without a tram system, and after numerous false dawns, plans to build a highly-anticipated mass transit system in West Yorkshire have been delayed by several years to the late 2030s.

Campaigners blame this on a lack of funding provided by the Treasury, and believe the problem could be solved by a cast iron multi-year funding pledge, and by handing more devolved powers to Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has made devolution a centrepiece of his project, to increase trust in politics and drive economic growth, and Angela Rayner, the returning Local Government Secretary, recently cited the plans as an area where devolution needs to go further.