YP Letters: City still paying price of short-term thinking

Following visits to Manchester and elsewhere, Aisha Iqbal is, understandably, suffering from “a serious bout of connectivity envy” (The Yorkshire Post, December 11).

Mercifully, post-war Leeds did not have Dresden’s cruel advantage of starting a public transport network from scratch.

In the 1950s, the city’s myopic Transport Committee chose to ignore the fact that 1960s clearances would enable existing miles of segregated tram tracks to be extended to the very edge of the city centre.

They opted for the short-term cheapness of an all-bus system and the long-term price continues to be paid by the city and region.

Thirty years back, Leeds City Council belatedly acknowledged the mess and sought to follow Manchester, Sheffield etc. The inept and shameful history which followed has been well documented in The Yorkshire Post.

I cheered Aisha until her closing “It’s time to find out. . .” Presumably the original three-line tram plans still exist.

Is it too much to ask that the City Council acknowledge and accept that this is beyond them and seek help – from Manchester perhaps? Let’s have the plans reconsidered, costed, funded, get stuck in and make a start.