Car Free Leeds

Last Winter, with help from our friends at Climate Action Leeds, we held a couple of workshops with residents of South Leeds to help us re-imagine Tempest Road and Elland Road in a future free from car dependency.

Tempest Road

Tempest Road has a mix of homes, community spaces, shops, eateries, and nearby schools and religious spaces. At the top of Tempest Road you’ll find a very busy junction across Beeston Road, and at the bottom of Tempest Road you’ll find the A653 - Dewsbury Road.

Here’s what we came up with, and how you can help make it a reality.

Welcome to our community!

This is a place where everyone feels welcome, respected, seen, safe, happy, and at home. We nurture our vibrant community, look out for each other, grow and share food, celebrate our victories, and encourage ambition and positive change.

We ask you to please respect our values, our differences, our green spaces, our clean streets, and most importantly our future.

Our spaces have many different uses, users, and we value all of them. We encourage people to visit us, learn from us, enjoy their stay, be themselves, and thrive.

Take a wander down Tempest Road and you’ll find it’s lush with greenery and plots to grow fruit, vegetables, and herbs. Our edible gardens help cut the cost of food as well as emissions. People have space to relax, socialise, play outside, and learn from one another.

Pedestrians and vulnerable members of our community have priority here, but you’re welcome to scoot, cycle, wheel, walk, or even roller-skate mindfully around. On the occasion that people who live or work on the street need access to a vehicle, or emergency vehicles need access, we have a dedicated lane through the street, highlighted by raised markers.

Turning left down Maud Avenue towards Cross Flatts Park, we’ve got our sensory garden park corridor and community mural. This area is great for kids (and adults) to stimulate the senses, get in touch with nature, or relax.

On the other side of Tempest Road - if you turn right down Maud Avenue - you can find our free little library and community notice board. Come and see what activities you can get involved with locally!

The most important thing in our community is the happiness of our people, the richness of our cultures, and the health and wellbeing of our families.

Elland Road

One of the most well-known, well-trodden streets in Leeds is Elland Road. Home to Leeds United FC, this street sees tens of thousands of people walk and drive up and down it regularly. The street itself has a mix of homes, eateries, shops, pubs, and sports facilities; a wealth of life exists here along the A643.

When re-imagining Elland Road, our workshop participants wanted to create a place that really highlighted and celebrated sport; with the football stadium and the ice rink nearby, the large junction at Elland Road / Wesley Street presented the perfect opportunity for a plaza where people from all walks of life could meet, socialise, relax, and eat and drink together. In a post-car dependent society, the car parks around that junction could be turned into multi-use public spaces.

Picture this…

It’s a late weekend afternoon and you head outside to spend time with loved ones in the fresh summer air. 

You make your way down Wesley Street towards Elland Road and are struck by the beautiful smell of some nearby lavender plants. Birds fly, butterflies dance, and to your left, you see families and groups of young friends enjoying the space of the natural amphitheatre. Although there’s no show on today, you fondly remember that local re-telling of those star-crossed lovers last winter.

The rich smell of herbs and spices mixed with the sound of chatter and laughter draws you closer to the food trucks where you pick up a cool drink and a hot snack as your friend points to your right, over towards where the kids are playing table tennis. That patch of land used to be a car park, but now you can’t imagine it being used for anything other than a multi-purpose, family-friendly celebration-of-sports zone; it’s such an invaluable community place. And wow, look at that solar panel energy tree that provides clean power and a shaded seating area for people to recharge their batteries - literally and figuratively!

The hum and bell of the tram makes you turn as you see it slow to a halt and an older couple hop off, heading towards the football stadium, pausing for a moment as they watch two kids giggle and enjoy their ride as passengers of a cargo bike. As you put your rubbish in the recycling bins, you think about how amazingly safe it is for all types of people to get around: cyclists, pedestrians, roller skaters, scooters, wheelchair users, older people, young people, everyone! 

You take pride in knowing how considerate and caring everyone is of everyone else; everyone moves around mindfully, prioritises the more vulnerable members of our community, and looks out for one another.

A couple of dogs begin to bark as your companions lead the way down Elland Road, towards the Sustainable Transport Hub. Passing by the water fountain you wonder if you’ll stop to dip your toes in this time. 

Feeling relaxed and rejuvenated by the richness of your community, you take a deep breath and are so grateful to be out in the fresh air with the ones you love.

Arriving at the travel hub, you ask: “Shall we get the bus, the tram, or the cable car into town today?”

These visions are achievable. 

To make our city cleaner, greener, and safer, we need to start taking space away from cars and giving it back to people and nature.

Let your councillor know this is important to you and ask them to implement our 10 ways to tackle car dominance and climate change.

Want to see our visions for Birmingham, Bristol, and London?

As well as Leeds, we held workshops in our other Car Free Cities to re-imagine local streets and iconic places in a future free from car dependency. You can check out these cities’ Car Free Visions here: Birmingham, Bristol, and London.

What you can do to support a car free future