Horsforth A65 - A6120 roundabout improvements.

Input from JoelK so that we don't have two threads running on the same subject:


Hi folks,

Apologies for starting a new thread on a similar subject - but I think you will find this is important enough to warrant it:

If the controlling Labour council in Leeds get away with it, they plan to build 717 houses and TWO schools on the Horsforth roundabout – on GREEN BELT land. This is directly adjacent to the roundabout, close to where the strawberry picking fields are; up past the former Clariant site (literally sandwiched between the A65 and the ring road).

Plus over 200 more are planned on the opposite side of the ring road, where there is a small Leeds City College site too (opposite KFC).

It’s all part of their egotistical master plan to build 70,000 new homes across Leeds – which is 30% more than even they have been advised is needed by their own construction industry lead advisors.

Full details on the early stage plan are here:

http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/documents/s126087/Dr...

http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx...

http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/documents/s126092/5....

AND – if you’re not shocked enough at that, you should also know that they are pushing through plans to rip up more Green Belt fields opposite Rawdon Crematorium to make a new road linking to the airport from the A65, adding yet more traffic onto the same section of grid lock!

Genius, I know.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/leeds-b...

As at the moment, as a member of the public / local resident, your options don’t count for much – as it is a council controlled decision – which is mainly lead by the Labour councillors who have the massive majority.

The best you can do at this stage is write to your local town councilor (wherever you live, any area) – and protest that you strongly oppose the development of these sites, or on any of the other Green Belt land required to meet the over inflated housing target – and want him/her to vote against them on your behalf.

http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?b...

Please feel free to pass this on to others affected by the craziness.


Warm regards and happy motoring!


Joel – A local resident (who also sits and waits in the traffic there everyday) and Pistonheader.

I don't often have to go that way as I'm further along the Ring Road and generally go down through Headingley to where I need to be but I had to go up to Farsley this morning from Adel and what a nightmare. Everything running fairly smooth til about 800 yards before Fink Hill lights then it took over 30 mins from there to finally get across Horsforth rbt, which was then followed by a 10mph crawl down to Rodley rbt before I could get my toe down. I feel for those of you that have to go that way to work on a daily basis.

Although I understand the logistics for not being able to fully dual it down to Rodley without replacing the canal and rail bridges, I think that the traffic would cope just fine with it dualled down to the bridges before merging into 1 again. The extra road capacity from Horsforth to prevent the rbt from being gridlocked is really all that's needed in the short term at least. Can't cost that much in the grand scheme of things to carve up the super wide grass verge and bang some tarmac down.

I read somewhere that a new train station is being built behind the old Kirkstall Forge where GKN Axles used to be ?? Seems a bit random as there aren't many houses in the immediate vicinity.

Ah yes, forgot there are houses down there now. Down Pollard Lane? I even remember delivering some excavators there on my low loader truck but had completely forgotten about it!

Location may well be good, but the existing road infrastructure is not. You have what is basically a very busy single carriageway road to handle a ton of traffic on and between two main arterial routes in, out and around Leeds. Changing the line paint on the roundabouts and moving the islands around a bit is not going to change anything and it will be absolute chaos if these houses get built.

What happened to old Horsforth Police Station on Broadway? It looked awfully dated.

Land sold on, and building/s demolished?

Incredible amount of time and it appears non effort being spent on that roundabout, just another area to be avoided on my way onto Leeds during the week.

The traffic into Leeds is getting silly, even my ninja route over the tops from Menston and through into the back of Cookridge has been rumbled it's crazy seeing those moor roads totally clogged with traffic as well.

Yeah all those shops round there must be a nightmare!

Well it's finished bar a few flowers on the roundabout.
The lights are on and.....it hasn't made any difference to the traffic.

So what do us locals think of the "improvements" to these 2 rbts now they've been in a while? I find the Rodley one works pretty well and certainly the queues coming out of Rodley to go up to Horsforth are reduced now it's traffic light controlled. Going up the ring road to Dawson's Corner now that there's 2 lanes through the rbt is nice but the exit angle is pretty nasty if you're in the inside lane! Don't get alongside a truck there because they'll need to use most of lane 2 to avoid running over the edge of the kerb. They should have sorted that out when they did the work imho. Coming the other way, if the lights are on green and you're going a bit fast, that hump in the middle and then sharp right bend over the other side to the exit can catch out the unwary! I don't think it'll be long until someone loses it and plants their motor straight that hedgerow .

Horsforth rbt I've not seen any improvement whatsoever to be honest. I do know that if you're staying on the ring road, using lane 2 to go straight on more often that not ends badly as there isn't enough room for the vehicles turning right to wait at the lights so their arse end hangs out into lane 2 meaning you get stuck in the middle of the rbt waiting for a gap in the traffic in lane 1 in order to get around them. Also, extending the exit down to Rodley by 50 yards has achieved absolutely fk all and the traffic still backs up badly from Kirkstall and Horsforth.

Horsforth is still rubbish. Haven't seen any change whatsoever and I actively avoid it unless I'm nowhere close to rush hour (i.e. 2 hours plus either side).