The consultation closed on Wednesday 26 July 2023
Leeds Innovation Arc SPD summary
Aim of this Supplementary Planning Document
The area is home to some of Leeds most important and recognisable buildings and heritage assets, its civic core, and a wealth of cultural facilities. It is the access point to the city from the surrounding residential areas to the west and north and has the potential to connect directly with regeneration underway at the South Bank.
These characteristics place the area at the heart of Leeds economic success and a focal point for innovation-led growth in the city region. The success of the Innovation Arc is critical to unlocking the city’s inclusive growth ambition and a route to create opportunities for all, by putting people at the heart of innovation to improve health, wealth and tackle inequalities across our communities.
Innovation is thriving in Leeds, from grassroots community led organisations like Leeds Digital Festival – the largest tech festival in the UK – to world leading Research and Development (R&D), health innovators and tech unicorns. Innovation in the city is benchmarked internationally through working with Massachusetts Institute of Technology on their Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (MIT REAP).
Whilst the ingredients of a successful innovation hub are all present, the Innovation Arc does not currently maximise its potential. The area’s best assets are not well-connected and lack a common identity and sense of purpose. There is currently no overarching document to foster collaboration and deliver regeneration outcomes across the area that can be so much greater than the sum of their parts.
Purpose of this Supplementary Planning Document
The purpose of the document is to:
- define the vision and development principles for future development in the area through positive interventions to address climate change, inclusive growth, health and wellbeing
- define what innovation in the area looks like
- reflect and expand upon existing Local Plan policies to provide development guidance and identify specific opportunities and interventions within three neighbourhoods that make up the area: Woodhouse Gateway (anchored by the city’s major universities); Great George Street (anchored by the hospital campus); and the West End (anchored by major private sector occupiers)
- be used for development management purposes as a material consideration in the determination of planning applications which fall within the area of the SPD
- provide a guide to investors and developers on their proposals for development and growth in the area
- provide a regeneration tool and internal council document to coordinate non-planning matters which have an impact on the area
- to inform future delivery plans for the area and support funding bids and decisions
Supplementary Planning Document area
The SPD area focuses on the west side of the city centre. It extends to approximately 132 hectares and is defined by the River Aire and Leeds Railway station to the south, Park Row to the east, Woodhouse Lane and Woodhouse Moor to the north, and Clarendon Road to the west.
While a boundary is defined by the SPD there is a clear and important interrelationship with the area and communities outside but adjoining the area. This includes the residential neighbourhoods of Woodhouse, Hyde Park, Burley, Kirkstall, and Little London to the north, west and north east, together with Holbeck, the Temple District and the South Bank to the south and the remainder of the city centre to the east.
The SPD area takes in the campuses for University of Leeds, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds Arts University and the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the city’s central business district and civic spaces including Millennium Square, Victoria Square and Park Square.
The area is intersected by the A58, which presents a significant physical and perceptual barrier to connections, north, south and west through the SPD area.
Supplementary Planning Document Status
The SPD is a non-statutory document which forms part of the Leeds Local Plan and expands upon existing policies in the Adopted Core Strategy, in particular Policies SP3, CC1, CC3 and P11. It explains how policies in the Local Plan are to be implemented in the context of the SPD area. It will be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications which fall within the area of the SPD.
Consultation
The production of this SPD has been produced in line with the Town & Country Planning (Local Plans)(England) Regulations 2012 and the Statement of Community Involvement. Full details of the consultation process will be included in the consultation statement.
Vision for the Innovation Arc
Leeds Innovation Arc will be a nationally important and internationally recognised economic and knowledge engine.
Where cutting edge academic research and innovative, entrepreneurial businesses come together to create and commercialise new economic opportunities.
It will be a place where the best talent wants to work, live and play; employers want to locate and invest; and a place that directly benefits the residents of Leeds.
Overarching Principles
In times of uncertainty, change and ever-evolving agendas, it is important that a set of strong principles are established and provide consistency through the lifetime of the project.
Resilient
COVID-19 has shown us the importance of resilience within cities and the need for flexible and dynamic urbanism. There is a clear emerging opportunity for Leeds to grasp the potential of innovation-driven growth and build upon the city’s existing assets and infrastructure to enable new enterprise, research, skills and employment.
Leeds Innovation Arc has a responsibility as a centre for innovation to be ahead of the curve in its response to the climate emergency. The area should set a positive example for the rest of the city and seek opportunities to showcase best practice in sustainable and resilient solutions.
Liveable
Housing is the foundation upon which a healthy and progressive society is built. As well as being a vibrant place to visit, full of buzz and excitement, Leeds Innovation Arc should be a desirable place to live with a strong community offer that exists beyond office hours and student term times.
It should feel safe, comfortable and neighbourly; a place that engenders social connection and a sense of community. Affordable housing is key to creating a liveable place for all, as is a mix of tenures, sizes and types of dwelling to ensure a diverse neighbourhood.
Rooted
An Innovation Arc for Leeds, built on its past, rooted in its identity and ready for the future. Heritage-led innovation lies at the heart of Leeds Innovation Arc. With a number of significant heritage and cultural assets, the area is rooted in its distinct, yet diverse identity. This should be revealed and celebrated through the development of the area, utilising and re-purposing its assets and enhancing its existing character. Each neighbourhood should play to its strengths and revel in its individuality. This is key to creating an authentic sense of place that engenders a sense of ownership among local communities.
Healthy
Leeds Innovation Arc is a world-class hub for research and innovation in health and medical technologies. The area also directly adjoins with some of the city's most deprived neighbourhoods. Addressing health inequalities, tackling poverty and striving for a healthy city for all must therefore be one of the key driving forces for Leeds Innovation Arc.
Inclusive
For Leeds Innovation Arc to be truly successful, it must be inclusive to all. The SPD area covers a considerable area of the city, with the potential to create significant positive change. Breaking through the barrier of the A58 and stitching the area into its surrounding neighbourhoods will be integral to this.
Utilising and amplifying the overlap between culture, creativity and innovation across the area will be critical to improving its accessibility whilst also supporting Leeds’ ambition to be both a ‘child-friendly’ and ‘age-friendly’ city.
Recognising the importance of creating a high quality inclusive and accessible environment and eliminating physical barriers for both disabled residents of, and visitors to, the Innovation Arc is crucial. New spaces and places within the Innovation Arc should support the city to achieve inclusivity and equality in terms of access for all people.
Neighbourhood opportunities
Woodhouse Gateway
- Improve gateways to open up the university campuses including through a new linear park which will create enhanced east-west connectivity
- Improve existing and create new connections across the A58 for pedestrians and cyclists to reduce the barriers to movement caused by the A58
- Ensure that Woodhouse Lane and Blenheim Terrace enable the successful delivery of a key public transport priority route, while rebalancing the needs for pedestrians and cyclists and without detrimental effects on nearby streets such as Blenheim Walk
- Provide start-up spaces and other spaces for small businesses that would benefit from close links to academia and university research
- Optimise estates, utilising existing buildings for new or more accessible innovation space
- Heritage-led innovation has the potential to anchor the neighbourhood and become a key point of gravity across the Innovation Arc
- Create a new city park (subject to detailed feasibility and design) that brings together existing pockets of green space and caps the A58 to create a significant green space for the city.
Great George Street
- Rebalance Great George Street to become a significant strategic east-west connection in the city, prioritising walking and cycling
- Ensure permeability for people through large footprint estates that breaks down unintentional barriers and stitches the neighbourhood into the city
- Opportunity to provide a key public transport priority route gateway into the area, providing people with direct access to some of Leeds key institutions and spaces including; the Headrow, Victoria Square, Millennium Square, Leeds General Infirmary, Town Hall, Central Library and Art Gallery
- The proposal of new teaching and medical facilities at the Leeds General Infirmary allow for existing buildings to be utilised available for reuse or repurpose for core and/or supporting innovation uses
- The Gilbert Scott building and the Old Medical School are key heritage assets that should be restored and celebrated
- Opportunity to create a new city park to the west (subject to detailed feasibility and design). Improving existing connections and stitching surrounding neighbourhoods into the Innovation Arc through meaningful green space
West End
- Utilise the areas position in the city and its existing routes to improve connections to and from surrounding neighbourhoods
- Rebalancing of Park Square East to become a key strategic walking and cycling route, joining Oxford Place and connecting two innovation neighbourhoods within the Arc
- Improvements to key intersections at Infirmary Street/St Paul's Street and Wellington Street/Queen Street. Resolving conflict and creating a significant intersection for north-south and east-west movement. These intersections are rebalanced and become key gateway spaces into the heart of the Innovation Arc and neighbourhoods
- Improvements to the public realm across the grid would help to stitch the area around Park Square together with Wellington Place improving the synergy between the two and facilitating their mutual support of one another
- Rebalance St Paul's Street to becoming a key green movement route as well as a destination for activity and leisure
- Open up connections across the river to stitch the West End to South Bank and create a meaningful connection down to the Temple area, soon to become home to the major cultural destination of the British Library of the North
Consultation
Take part in the online consultation on the Inclusive Growth website.
