Chapel Allerton: Angry neighbours beg Leeds Council to remove 'ugly' roadblock causing 'permanent traffic jams'

A row of five planters were put up diagonally across St Martin’s Road in Chapel Allerton by the city council last year, where the road meets Blake Lane to the north and St Martin’s Crescent to the south.

The council says the move was designed to make the streets “safer”, by discouraging drivers from outside the area taking a shortcut and to improve the environment.

But some neighbours say the blockage has had the opposite effect, and cars are now clogging up at already busy junctions, now that one of the estate’s major exit points has been cut off.

The planters themselves have also been branded an eyesore, while critics also claim there was a lack of consultation. Miles Cawthorne, who lives on nearby St Martin’s Grove, previously used the crossroads to get to Chapel Allerton, but is now forced to exit onto Chapeltown Road, opposite the local hospital. Mr Cawthorne said: “That junction is the only exit for me now and it’s a permanent traffic jam at rush hour to get to where I need to be, which is really frustrating. As you can see the planters are not maintained. It’s extremely ugly and it just degrades the area. It’s not being looked after at all and you’ve got increased emissions because people are driving round in circles.”

Andy Hobman lives on the other side of the roadblock, on Methley Mount. He said the blockage has added an extra half hour to his morning commute to Morley, as he’s now forced to turn left onto congested Potternewton Lane, as opposed to using the crossroads further down.

“The idea of cutting pollution doesn’t work if you have to drive around in circles to get where you’re going,” Mr Hobman said.

“All it’s doing is creating more jams and traffic.”

Mr Hobman said he’d happily use public transport to get to work if it was feasible, but that his only alternative to the car would be to get “three buses to Morley for 8am”.

However, Jazz Bhuhi, who lives close to the roadblock, is in favour of the planters, as he claims the crossroads used to function as a “rat run”.

“They’ve been a godsend,” he said.

“It used to be like Silverstone out here. I’d help you build these in concrete. We’ve lived here for 37 years. The amount of problems we had with the amount of through traffic was horrendous, especially rat runs in the morning and evening.”

In response to the complaints, Leeds City Council said the move was part of a trial scheme across Chapeltown to “reallocate road space for people walking and cycling”. Money for the scheme came from a government fund set up during the Covid pandemic.

A spokesperson said: “The funding was conditioned on quick implementation due to the pandemic and this somewhat limited the level of consultation which could be done, although before the scheme was implemented, an online consultation was undertaken and every household in the area received a letter about the proposed trial.

“The planters, made by a local firm using recycled materials, were placed in residential streets in Chapeltown in May 2020, to discourage vehicles from outside the area taking short cuts, creating a safer space.

The council added: “Since then we have worked closely with residents and local ward councillors, including a residents focus group to gather feedback from the trial and co-design a revised scheme.

“This has resulted in a new trial, which was put in place last October, and will remain for a minimum of six months, with the intention of looking to make it permanent, subject to resident feedback.”