New plans to avert Leeds Festival traffic chaos

Leeds Festival bosses are working on plans to avoid a repeat of the traffic chaos that marred the build-up to last summer’s event.

Motorists were left trapped in road queues for up to SEVEN HOURS as thousands of campers headed to the three-day music extravaganza last August.

The mayhem led residents in badly-hit areas such as Cross Gates and Halton to criticise the traffic management plan drawn up by event organiser Festival Republic, West Yorkshire Police, Leeds City Council and the Highways Agency.

Now a council report has revealed that Festival Republic has said it will consider putting an alternative plan in place for this summer’s concerts, which will take place as usual at Bramham Park, near Wetherby.

The report says an agreement has been reached “in principle” for traffic to be routed from the south up the A1/M1 on the Thursday before the event – the day when most problems happened last year.

Vehicles would then be directed on to the A64, where a temporary road closure would allow right turns onto the site.

The management plan is due to be presented to members of the council’s licensing committee on April 23, says the report.

News of the proposal comes just days after this year’s festival line-up was announced.

Acts playing Bramham Park over the August Bank Holiday weekend include Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead, Kings of Leon and Leeds’s own Kaiser Chiefs.

* Festival Republic, promoters of the Leeds Festival, today confirmed that all weekend tickets for this year’s event are sold out. This includes all combined ticket and coach packages.

Source: EP Leeds First & County

Categories: Event Traffic Management, Festival News