Of the many urban extensions that are underway or planned at the moment, the one to the north east of Leeds is perhaps one of the largest. So here we will look at the development that
is planned for the East Leeds Extension and the land along the new East Leeds Orbital Route.

The East Leeds Extension (or ELE) is Leeds City Council’s branding for a number of development schemes for a 233 ha site to the north east of Leeds. The land here has been the subject of developer interest for several decades. The ELE has been allocated for housing by Leeds City Council since the 2001 UDP and the East Leeds Extension Development Framework SPD provided development guidelines, and the details were adopted in 2018. The ELE has been earmarked to provide around 5,000 homes as part of the city’s original Local Development Framework requirements to provide space for 70,000 new homes by 2028.

The land here is owned by a number of developers and landowners. Leeds City Council are leading the planning and delivery of the East Leeds Orbital Route (ELOR) and community infrastructure, and co-ordinating between land holding and developer interests as new proposals are brought forward.

The ELOR is very much the key to realising the East Leeds Extension. The ELOR is a £116m 7.5km two lane dual carriageway with parallel ‘leisure route’ running from the M1 at junction 46 running on the outskirts of Leeds and connecting the A64, A58 and then joining the existing Leeds ring road at Red Hall.

Although the ELOR serves as a bypass to the existing Leeds ring road and the suburbs of Colton, Manston, Crossgates, Swarcliffe, Seacroft and Whinmoor it is effectively a major new development route. The SPD suggests that the ELOR will serve as a new boundary to the Leeds urban area. 

The ELOR has already been built and opened (in 2019) from the M1 as far as the Thorpe Park and Manston area. The rest of the route should be fully completed by the end of 2022.