The mayor confirmed that "work already underway" live on air.
In an interview with BBC Radio Leeds, Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin made the promise to get 'spades in the ground' on a mass transit system by the time she leaves her role as mayor.
At present, Leeds is the largest city in Western Europe without a built-in transport system, after the past transit system that ran across the city from 1871 – 1959, using a combination of horse-drawn, steam and electric trams over time, was deemed unaffordable by the City Council following the Second World War, they ultimately closed.
The mayor confirmed that "work already underway" in an interview with BBC Radio Leeds last week. / Image: Unsplash
Naturally, it's been a talking point ever since (so much so it became a bit of an April Fool's joke last year) and this is not the first time Leeds has been promised a new tram network.
"We're definitely going to see spades in the ground on mass transit before I end up not being mayor...we're looking at surface, so trams", said Mayor of West Yorkshire to BBC Radio Leeds.
"The technology, we want to be ahead of the game we want the best tech, the most innovative , the greenest , the cleanest and also the cheapest. So we're going to have an amazing system."
"It's a long haul but I'm in for it"
Trams have been a talking point in Leeds for as long as anyone can remember. / Image: Unsplash
BBC Radio Leeds Breakfast Presenter Rima Ahmed pushed the mayor to confirm, asking "Is this a promise that you can make us then, by the time that you are no longer mayor Tracy Brabin, whenever that might be, that we have spades in the ground to get going on the mass transport system?"
Tracy responded: "Yes, I can promise you because we're already underway."
"I can't promise that the government are going to continue giving us the funding, it's a £2 billion project, we have £200 million currently to start the work, but I am pressing government to confirm that, whoever is the government, that they will continue investing in mass transit."
Should people be charged to park in Leeds’ parks and green spaces? 🏞💵
Mayor of West Yorkshire @TracyBrabin thinks it will encourage people use their cars less often. 🚙
There was even a Leeds Supertram plan that was scrapped in 2005 by the Transport Secretary after budget issues, but the proposed track would have served the inner city, both Universities and Headingley.
Leeds supertram plans were disbanded in 2005 but the plans are still available online. / Image: Open Street Map
The three lines would have run from Tingley, Bodington and Grimes Dyke and joined in the city centre at stations on Albion Street, Eastgate, Boar Lane and City Square.
Back in 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “madness that Leeds should be the largest city in Europe with no metro rail system”.
The tiramisu hype lives on, and this time it's coming to Leeds.
It really does feel like the traditional Italian dessert has taken the world by storm as of late.
Everything from tiramisu cups and tiramisu coffees have been popping up all over our feed, and now tiramisu in drawer form is popping up in the city centre.
Misu Tiramisu is an independent business that began at Manchester's Christmas Markets and quickly became one of the most popular operators, all thanks to its miniature tiramisu ‘drawers’.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
The individually portioned and colourfully packaged desserts quickly became one of town’s top puddings, and owners Aleem and Aishah went on to launch a stand inside the Manchester Arndale too.
And now they’re branching out again in Leeds inside Trinity shopping centre for a two month residency.
You’ll find all their delicious flavours of handmade tiramisu, including classic, pistachio, chocolate, Biscoff, mango, and lemon - they'll also have some gluten-free tiramisu on offer as well, so no one has to miss out.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Misu Tiramisu owners Aleem and Aishah spent a year refining the recipe for their tiramisus after a trip to Milan, first launching with their first market stall in Sale.
Misu Tiramisu is now open inside Trinity shopping centre opposite Boots Opticians and Pop Specs.
They're open every day of the week for you to get your tiramisu fix, from 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 11am to 5pm on a Sunday.
And trust us Leeds, they're just as delicious as they are adorable.
Fossilised 320-million-year-old fish found in Leeds’ Roundhay Park
Clementine Hall
A prehistoric fish fossil has been unearthed at Roundhay Park in Leeds.
The fascinating prehistoric skull bone of a coelacanth fish was discovered by a geologist at Roundhay Park earlier this year.
It is thought the creature was frozen in time aeons ago, during an era when the park was submerged under a vast tropical lagoon.
The remarkable discovery has now been kindly donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and added to the natural sciences collection at Leeds Discovery Centre.
Image: Leeds City Council
The Leeds fossil was found by Ru Smith of the Yorkshire Geological Society during a reconnaissance walk he was carrying out ahead of a planned field excursion in the north Leeds park.
Describing the moment he made the discovery, Ru said: “There’s a layer of rock in the park which dates from around 320 million years ago, from a time before the breakup of the continents, when what is now the park would have been situated close the Equator and under the warm waters of a tropical lagoon. West Central Africa would be a good place to find similar environments in the present.
“There’s a bed of freshwater mussels called Carbonicola at one level in the rock, and opening a piece of shale from this bed in my hands I saw something unusual – a distinctive skull bone of a large fish. I knew straight away this was something different and very rare."
The bone was verified byexperts as belonging to a coelacanth older than those found elsewhere in Yorkshire, making it the oldest fossil coelacanth discovered in the region.
Ru added: “Coelacanths are pretty amazing fish and it’s just very cool to think that at one time, you could have been standing in Leeds and watching them swim around above a bed of mussels in Roundhay Park.
“That’s really the wonder of geology, looking at the rock and time travelling in the imagination to what was a very different world.”
Sophie Smith -
16th January 2023 
