Taxpayers face £5m trolleybus bill

INITIAL planning for the proposed Leeds trolleybus scheme will cost taxpayers over £5m but the spending comes with no guarantees that the scheme will go ahead, a report says.

Leeds Council and transport body Metro are expected to share the costs of the submission of the Transport and Works Act Order and a public inquiry that will follow.

The Works Act order will give the council and Metro the powers to build and operate the system.

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The cost of the works application and the public inquiry have been estimated to be about 5.1m and "are being incurred at risk as further progression of the scheme beyond this stage is subject to a favourable decision being obtained at public inquiry", according to a report going before councillors on Friday.

The council is now considering putting an extra 1.9m into the project on top of 1.2m already spent on initial development costs.

The report, due to be discussed by members of the executive board, says that "work is proceeding at risk" but follows "positive feedback from Central Government".

The latest developments follow detailed consultations with the public.

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Those questioned supported the use of trolleybuses – the preferred vehicle – and for the building of the park-and-ride areas.

Over 70 per cent of those questioned backed the creation of two park-and-ride sites at the end of the north and south routes of the scheme.

The northern route runs from the city centre to Hyde Park Corner, then to Headingley, West Park, a park-and-ride at Bodington and then along a proposed extension out to Holt Park.

The southern route goes to a park-and-ride at Stourton.

The scheme would initially serve three routes – north, south and east – covering a distance of about 14 kilometres and linking key locations such as hospitals and universities.

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The idea is to keep the trolleybuses away from other vehicles as much as possible so they do not get caught up in congestion.

During consultation 88 per cent of those living within a 10-minute walk of one of the routes said they would consider using it.

But only 42 per cent of car owners who responded said they would consider using one of the park-and-ride sites.

Many of those questioned said that more routes were needed across Leeds and others worried that trolleybuses may create more congestion rather than ease it.

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But the report says: "In order to achieve the wider environmental benefits of reduced congestion and pollution, it is essential to provide an attractive and convenient system offering reliable and consistent journey times."

The report warns that the scheme can only be delivered at the expense of having an adverse impact on other road users.

"The construction of such a major transport project as NGT (New Generation Transport) requires the provision of a high level of segregation as well as a wide range of priority measures if the journey times and reliability necessary... are to be achieved."

It adds: "The objectives of the scheme cannot be delivered without having impacts on other road users, heritage and landscape feature and existing transport operations."

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The public inquiry into the proposed scheme is expected to take place early next year and construction could begin by October 2013, with the start of operations in 2016.

The report concludes that the allocation of just under 250m by the Regional Transport Board "provides a real opportunity to deliver the step change in public transport that Leeds has been seeking for the last two decades".