Trolleybuses to be introduced to Leeds

Date: 6/7/2012

A scheme to introduce trolleybuses as a sustainable way to travel around Leeds has been given the go ahead by the government.

Leeds city centre will be accessible from park and ride sites to the north and south of the city aboard the trolleybuses in a system which will cost £250 million to put in place.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Executive Member for Development and the Economy at Leeds City Council, said: "It will mean that Leeds becomes the first city in the UK to join the growing number of cities across Europe adopting this technology which is vital for our future economic growth and for the needs of our growing population."

The conformation that the (NGT) New Generation Transport will go ahead comes five years after the idea was mooted.

Trolleybuses will not be new to Leeds however, as 101 years ago the first trolleybuses in the UK were introduced to the city alongside Bradford.

The last operational trolleybus was in Bradford and stopped providing transport to the city's population 40 years ago.

Returning to the technology after all this time is mainly due to the fact that the vehicles which replaced them were seen to be cheaper and more flexible, but their diesel engines have had a negative impact on the environment.

Other alternatives which were considered in order to deal with traffic congestion in the city centre included returning the old tram system which was abandoned in 1959.

In 2005 work stopped on the construction of a tram system after £40 million had been spent and the estimate had grown to £1 billion.

When the trolleybus scheme was first proposed the plans were put on hold as the coalition government announced its austerity measures.

It is thought that now that the initiative has been cleared it will help to boost the local economy and Justine Greening, the Transport Secretary, has predicted that it will bring 4,000 new jobs to the area.

Posted by Mary Treen

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