Modern mass transit key to Leeds United plans

It is now or never for the city of Leeds to unlock potentially billions of pounds of investment around Elland Road, according to Leeds United director Peter Lowy.

Lowy is one of the most significant shareholders within the 49ers Enterprises ownership at Elland Road. While he keeps some distance from on-pitch or transfer matters, his expertise, after decades at the helm of shopping centre giant Westfield, is in developing the stadium and the land around it.

He spoke to The Athletic at UKREiiF, a real estate investment and infrastructure forum being held in Leeds this week. Lowy has just been on stage, explaining why he feels a tram system is so important to the city, when he sits down for our interview.

While the redevelopment of the stadium has planning permission and will accelerate through the close season, the future of the 30 acres of land around the ground is foremost in Lowy’s mind. He is concerned about the pace at which an agreement on a tram system is being reached.

Just this week, DfT announced the formation of a new taskforce, which will tackle barriers to the delivery of mass transit systems across the UK, supporting economic growth, jobs and new homes. It is called the Mass Transit Taskforce and it will bring together experts from planning and industry to speed up the process of unblocking development.

Sources at the DfT, who spoke under the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, said it was now awaiting West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (WYCA) business case for mass transit in Leeds.   {For a regional capital, the case must be strong].

Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is a Leeds MP. She hosted Lowy and his team at 11 Downing Street in February and has met them twice at Elland Road, too. Lowy said: “She is fully on board with this.”  [But she may not be Chancellor much longer].

Lowy does not need to see trams gliding through Leeds before he can start developing these 30 acres around the stadium. Once that formal commitment is in place, he says he can start to invest billions in the area.

While the stadium is being redeveloped, regardless of what goes on around it, it remains to be seen what Lowy and his team can achieve if the tram does not materialise quickly enough. In that scenario, he says the project would only realise 20 to 30 per cent of what could be done with a mass transit system in place.

After decades of false dawns in and around Elland Road for United fans, Lowy hopes, with the expertise of the 49ers and the backing of this new MoU, an exciting new phase in LS11 history is on the horizon.