Business owners 'terrified' over bridge rebuild

Along Station Road in Cross Gates, a cluster of businesses line the busy artery through the east Leeds suburb.

Some have been stationed opposite the railway for the past three decades, but their owners say work to upgrade the line is threatening their trade.

From late March, a bridge over the tracks will be demolished and rebuilt so the line between Leeds, Selby and York can be electrified.

But with early preparation work already reducing passing footfall, business owners have told the BBC they are "terrified" for their futures when full road closures come into effect.

Katie Ramsden established her coffee shop just over a year ago after her son, Tobias, was stillborn.

"You get more appreciation for life when something like that happens," she told the BBC, her café bustling with commuters hoping to catch the next train into Leeds.

HIT Coffee, which is named using a combination of her children's initials, gave Mrs Ramsden the opportunity to set her own hours, allowing her to spend more time with her family.

She is worried the works, which are part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, will stop people coming in.

"We bring our kids for breakfast before they go to school; our home and business life is now going to have to change drastically.

"We will be extremely restricted, we will not have footfall, we will not have drive-in traffic; it is petrifying.

"Without help, we will not be able to survive this, we do not have anything else; this is who we are."

The Station Road bridge, which crosses over the line next to Cross Gates Station, is currently too low to accommodate overhead wires.

The bridge, which was originally built in 1830 and widened twice in the decades after, will be removed and rebuilt at a higher level.

Between the 31 March and 25 November, the section of the southbound carriageway of Station Road across the railway bridge will be closed to enable construction work to take place.

One lane of the northbound carriageway will also be closed as will a nearby footpath.

Diversions will be in place during the closures.

Early preparation work began last week, with Northern Powergrid diverting services beneath the central reservation of the bridge.

The work is taking place directly outside florist Monroes.

Maria Brown has run the business for 35 years and says she received "no notification" the works were going to take place.

"The first time I knew, was seeing a sign at the top of the road telling me there were major works.

"We accept the work has to be done but the issue is we have not been told.

"When you ask a question like, 'how am I going to get access? How can my delivery people come on a morning?' You do not get a response.

"There will be days we cannot trade."

Carl Thompson, owner of The Opposition salon across the road from the station, fears the diversions will deter his customers.

"Salons were forced to close for a considerable time because of the pandemic and we are still not fully recovered from that.

"This is the last thing we need, we do not need footfall to be dropping for something we are not in control of.

"Where do our clients come to? Where are they going to park? We have elderly clients who come in taxis."

The 67-year-old, who has run the salon for more than 37 years, received a letter informing him of the works just seven days before the preparations began.

"I just feel that we're a little bit insignificant.

"Bins are not being collected, lorries can't pull up in single file traffic.

"My business is obviously going to suffer."

Lucy Grogan from the Transpennine Route Upgrade project said representatives had met with "several of the local businesses around Cross Gates" to "discuss their concerns".

She said they would "continue to engage" to ensure everybody was informed about the upcoming work.

"We have planned our construction carefully to enable one lane to remain open to help maintain access and minimise disruption, however there are eight days when the road will need to be closed for safety.

"Access to all businesses will be maintained throughout the works.

"The reconstruction of Station Road bridge to create room for electrical overhead lines to be installed is a key step in enabling faster, greener and more frequent electric trains to run between York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester."

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