Meadow Lane improvements

Meadow Lane highways improvements

Work to transform the highway section of Meadow Lane started in April 2021. This work will see the redevelopment of Meadow Lane from a four lane road to a two-way road with further improvements planned to start in July on improving the public realm, including a new city park.

The conversion of the existing highway on Meadow Lane from a dual carriageway to a single carriageway will provide the opportunity to release the land around the highway and will form part of the council’s contribution to the City Park. The design of the City Park is under development and work is set to start later this year.

Once the scheme is fully complete in spring 2022, there will be significant benefits:

• The Leeds Bridge bus gates will make bus journeys faster and more reliable and reduce air pollution and vehicular noise on Meadow Lane.

• The significant narrowing of Meadow Lane allows for the repurposing of redundant highway to be used for new development, public realm and greenspace creating an attractive setting for the City Park

• The scheme helps to unlock the delivery of the city council’s contribution to the City Park, which will facilitate realisation of the vision for South Bank and address the shortage of green space in the City Centre

• The scheme also provides residual brownfield land to be regenerated for future development directly to the north of the greenspace

• Cycle users will benefit from a continuous protected two-way cycleway between Great Wilson Street and the Call Lane/ Swinegate junction

• Bus users will benefit from new bus shelters and updated real-time information.

• The bus stop by-pass will ensure there are no conflicts between bus stop users and cycle users at the southbound bus stop.

• The capacity of northbound bus stops in the area will increase, enhancing the resilience of the bus network.

Plans can be viewed and downloaded below.

Meadow Lane North plan

Meadow Lane south 

Meadow Lane public realm improvements

In summer 2021, work will start on transforming the public space on Meadow Lane, a 0.26 hectare (about half the size of a football field) new green space converting the 50,000 sq ft of highway land into a meaningful, inclusive, community focused public realm.

This is the first phase of the wider delivery of a new all-purpose, 3.5 hectare green city centre park, realising our vision to open the city by connecting the north to the south, utilising previously derelict and under-utilised space and making this the largest park in the city centre.

As part of this , the council will create a 0.26 hectare (about half the size of a football field) new green space on Meadow Lane converting the 50,000 sq ft of highway land into a meaningful, inclusive, community focused public realm.

With the inclusion of a new pedestrian footbridge connecting Sovereign Square to the Meadow Lane Park, the journey time and experience from the station to South Bank will be dramatically transformed.

Our goal is to create word class and inclusive public realm that transforms the city and provides enhanced connectivity for a healthier more active travel experience. The new and substantial transformation happening within the Bridge End locality will see a reduction to the road space and the creation of a people first, green urban realm, providing new opportunities for active travel and contributing to our goal to make Leeds carbon neutral by 2030.

This includes the conversion of 50,000 sq ft of highway land which will enable attractive and safe bus, pedestrian and cycling connections through South Bank to an improved public space around the Corn Exchange and form part of the new City Park –the largest new city centre green space in the UK, which will be delivered by Vastint and the Council at the former Tetley Brewery site.

How will the project be funded?

Funding for this work and other regeneration projects across the city has been successfully secured from the government’s Getting Building Fund which will work towards boosting economic growth and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, help to tackle climate change, and improve residents’ wellbeing.

This funding will contribute to transforming road space in the South Bank area of the city into new green space and improved public realm as part of one of Europe’s largest regeneration programmes. The funding will also help to enable the majority of City Park to be complete ahead of the Leeds 2023 international cultural festival.

Additional materials

Meadow Lane north

Click here for Meadow Lane north PDF.

Meadow Lane south

Click here for Meadow Lane south PDF.