Work on an ambitious £25m project to transform the area outside the Corn Exchange in Leeds city centre has begun.
Leeds City Council is planning to create a large public space, widen the pavements, plant trees and other greenery, and install cycle routes and upgraded bus shelters outside the Grade I listed Victorian building.
It will also close Call Lane to traffic permanently and alter several nearby roads, to try and improve transport in the area.
Work will get underway on Monday, August 24, and contractors will begin by removing central islands on Duncan Street.
They will then focus on installing a new cycle way on Lower Briggate and widening pavements outside the Corn Exchange.
The project is due to be competed by the winter of 2021.
Councillor Lisa Mulherin, the council's executive member for transport, said: "After careful consultation with the public on this scheme, I am delighted to see it is finally getting underway.
“We have worked very closely with our partners over the past few months to ensure that the feedback we received from the public was analysed carefully and we attempted to incorporate as much of that as possible in to the new plans.
“This scheme is a significant development in the council’s commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030.
"It includes a number of plans such as pavement widening, protected cycle ways and improved public realm, all of which we hope will encourage active travel in the city.
“We want to stress that we are working hard to create many more new routes which offer improved safety for people to walk and cycle, offering convenience and championing health and wellbeing for our residents."
