A bird's-eye view of Leeds, Sheffield, and Yorkshire
X
Leeds
Plans for Leeds to house the ‘largest new city-centre green park in the country’ to be considered
"Leeds city centre has a real lack of green space, as a city we have a lot of it, but as a centre we have too little of it so that is a real positive."
The new proposals come alongside the next phases of development for Aire Park in Leeds city centre.
Aire park is a major redevelopment by Vastint UK that looks to completely transform the former Tetley Brewery site into a mixed neighbourhood consisting of homes, offices, retail, leisure and public outdoor spaces.
At the centre of the plans is an ambition to create "largest new city-centre green park in the country".
The first part of this green space, known as Tetley Green, opened this year and is connected to the Aire Park area by the new Theatre Garden which features raised flower beds and seating.
Image: Vastint UK
Completing Aire Park and achieving the latest plans would involve the demolition of some already existing buildings, according to the planning documents.
However if approved, the proposals would see Aire Park fully completed in 2032.
According to the Leeds Civic Trust, changes already made to the area have been "significant".
Martin Hamilton, Leeds Civic Trust's director said: "Bringing back a positive use to this area and creating a huge new city centre park is a big gain.
Image: Vastint UK
"Leeds city centre has a real lack of green space, as a city we have a lot of it, but as a centre we have too little of it so that is a real positive.
"There is a slight disappointment it wasn't possible to retain a gallery use on site though, this is a huge commercial site and having one pocket as an independent not-for-profit function seems to the Leeds Civic Trust like it could have been a better way of doing things.
"All I would say is 'the devil is in the detail' and what we really want to see is high quality architecture."
Leeds City Council's panel will view a pre-application presentation on the next phase of developments this Thursday.
In honour of National Chocolate Week, two big brands are joining forces.
Fancy a freebie? Silly question, of course you do.
Tony’s Chocolonely and Yorkshire Tea have joined forces for National Chocolate Week to ask Brits to declare themselves a ‘Melt’...yes, really.
It comes after the brands discovering a new Gen Z dunking trend, with research finding that 80% of 18–24-year-olds say chocolate is their preferred tea-dunking treat.
To understand why the perculiar pairing has become so popular, the brands recruited Associate Professor of Psychobiology, Dr Lorenzo Stafford, to investigate what happens when tea and chocolate come together.
Associate Professor, Dr Lorenzo Stafford said: "It's fascinating to see how much thought Brits put into what makes a great dunk. Flavour, texture and temperature all shape how we experience food, and the combination of hot tea with melting chocolate creates a particularly enjoyable sensory experience.
"When it comes to dunking, tea and chocolate have great chemistry so it’s no surprise young people have embraced it."
If you want to try it out for yourself, then you can for free - but there is one catch.
From Monday 19 to Friday 23 October, anyone who walks into one of Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds and says ‘I'm a Melt’ will get a free mug of Yorkshire Tea and bar of Tony's Chocolonely.
Not only that, but the first 100 customers will also get a limited-edition ‘Melt’ cap.
Yorkshire Tea & Tony’s Chocolonely said of the partnership, “Brits love their tea and their chocolate and now the science shows why. This National Chocolate Week, we’re inviting everyone to give it a go, embrace their inner Melt and discover just how well chunky chocolate and a proper brew can work together.”
Leeds Bradford Airport strikes will NOT go ahead following ‘late offer’ over pay
Clementine Hall
This weekend's strikes at Leeds Bradford Airport have been cancelled.
Around 130 workers were set to walk out this weekend, Unite said, but this has been suspended to allow air traffic controllers to consider a new pay offer.
The Unite members planning on to go on strike were a mixture of air traffic control workers, customer experience staff, security staff and cleaners.
The workers involved in the dispute had recently come out of a four-year pay deal, with some of the departments having fallen behind other airports in equivalent roles.
Pay talks have been happening since December 2025, with the airport's formal offer not going far enough to address the lack of pay parity which led to the decision to strike.
However, as of yesterday 15 October, the workers have been given new pay offers from the airport and the strikes will not take place to allow a ballot on the offers.
Air traffic controllers and hourly paid staff are being balloted separately on their respective offers.
Unite regional officer Neil Whitaker said: "After receiving offers from Leeds Bradford Airport, we have suspended this week’s strike action in good faith to allow members to vote on pay deals.”
In a statement, Leeds Bradford Airport said: "While the ballot process continues with certain members of our frontline colleagues, we remain hopeful that a positive outcome can be achieved and that an agreement can be reached which works for everyone involved.
"Regardless of the outcome of this ballot, LBA has a robust contingency plan in place and will be operating as normal this weekend.
"Our focus remains on supporting a smooth and reliable experience for customers while maintaining safe and efficient airport operations."
Clementine Hall -
15th April 2024 
