Well it depends on what you definition of transport links is McF? A city centre site means it will have far superior public transport links for obvious reasons BUT if we are looking at private car journey's then the whole thing turns on it's head.

The reason that Leeds City Council want it in the centre is that they want to encourage (force?) you to travel by public transport to use it. If it is at Elland Road more people would want to travel by car as it would mean a longer and multiple (as in one bus or train into the centre and then one bus out to ER) public transport journey's to reach the venue.

Now, please do argue about transport links but clearer definitions would be appreciated!

Got sent this link this morning.

Internal photo's of the arena - [urlhttp://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Revealed-Inside-the-new-Leeds.6158642.jp[/url

I don't necessarily think that is the case. Yes, Elland Road has plenty of wasteland for car parking at £6+ a time but then again, (contrary to popular belief) parking in the city centre on an evening isn't [ithat [/ihard (or expensive).

The arena will be a destination venue. As a result, it should be in a position that benefits the wider community - both public and business. An arena in the city centre (such as those in Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham) is far more beneficial to local bars, restaurants and hotels - and ultimately better for the local economy. (Try booking a hotel in Manchester when a big gig is on).

Other than a couple of dive pubs and chip shops, who else benefits with an arena at Elland Road?

I'm in and out of Leeds several times a week (a by-product of having daughters who study and/or work in the city centre and who refuse to use buses) and compared to the many other city centres that I have driven through Leeds is actually surprising easy to access and egress and has plenty of parking facilities especially in an evening.

Of course it will be busier for a mid-week event if 10000 people are attending but as the Bramley correspondent pointed out, those 10000 people have a huge wedge of spending power in the city on those event nights and as a town planner you'd have to be either bat-loony or have accepted a Poulson-esque bung to consider locating it elsewhere.


I have the original press release for that YEP link you provided, its looking very impressive isn't it ?

I also notice yesterday that Jan Fletcher is making noises about what she wants to do with her LS1/10 site that was to have been the arena, and the developers are ready to kick off at Kirkstall Forge again - all we need is for someone to pick up the Wellington St site and we'll have a glut of apartments again

You've done business with Uncle Ken before. haven't you...?

I do, sort of, agree with all that as well but was just talking about transport links specifically. Leeds City Council do want people to come by public transport where possible though and that will have been part of their argument for the current location.

GB & Oxford Hotels are looking at a new multi-story hotel behind the old Town and Country club (can't remember what it is now called!) for this reason.

12500, if full, I understand!

Yes, it does look like a good scheme but not sure how many people actually know it is not a multi-purpose arena, like Sheffield, and therefore whether they might be disappointed that they can't host some 'events' that Sheffield can?

Well I understand that in general now, apartments are in reasonably short supply in Leeds central areas. I understand that some apartments can be had in the 'Dalek' but that is because they are crap! I already think that developers are being more cautious than previous, so think it may not be quite as bad as before... but we will see!

Again, I'm sort of with LCC on this one.

"Multi-purpose" venues were designed at a time when "arena sports" such as basketball and ice hockey experienced a peak in popularity. Manchester Storm and Sheffield Steelers didn't struggle to sell out the MEN and Sheffield Arena in the late 90's. Since then however, it's a difference story. Manchester are now playing out of a 4,000 seat arena in Altrincham and the Steelers are moving out of the Sheffield Arena to Rotherham this year IIRC. Arena sports generally aren't profitable in 12k+ capacity venues and quite frankly, Sheffield is welcome to Disney on Ice and Americans in leotards pretending to cuddle each other.

Acoustically, they aren't exactly great for music either which is why I think the "music specific" model could work very well. My only reservation is the apparent lack of standing room.

I do totally agree with you on this one personally, I was just raising the question as to whether the Leeds public know that is what they are actually getting?

The Steelers will not be moving anywhere, I suspect, for the foreseeable future... mainly because the YES! Development in Rotherham where they were looking to move to, into a new 5000 seat ice arena, has not got anywhere near starting and might never get off the ground. It is a big £350m mixed use development on some old colliery brown-field sites near the M1 and the Country Park, but all is quiet at the moment, for obvious reasons. They do have outline planning, from 2007 I think, so they have a couple of years to get things moving.

I think the model for "crash pads" was over-sold in Bridgewater Place at a time when the city was bigging up its reputation as a major financial centre, having seen some of them you would be generous to call them a "bedsit" and yet even recently I have seen a bundled set of them for sale at £1million for ten such crash pads - an outrageous price when you consider that just around the loop system you can buy a one bed Barrett apartment opposite the Armouries from around £50k

Quite, I think the Leeds arena's set up of a large theatre style venue will be a good selling point against other venues in the north, for certain acts, but I don't think it'll be so good for rock bands.

As for arena sports, Manchester Phoenix play at a temporary 2,000 capacity rink (A flat pack structure made in Scandinavia) in Alty and I don't even think the permanent rink (if it ever happens) will be much bigger than that. Nottingham's city centre arena seems to work well for them (and the Nottingham Panthers), though I've never been to Nottingham Arena. Having visited Sheffield Arena, I think that answers the question why a city centre arena is better than one out of the centre.

I think the Elland Road ice rink plans are for a rink with a capacity of a couple of thousand, something like the Coventry Skydome would be very good for public skating and hockey. Even better if it was in the city centre though, too many sports facilities are in south Leeds!