By Mike Batley, Green Streets® Development Manager
The White Rose Forest’s urban woodland programme is called Green Streets®, and this focuses on creating green connections for people and places. Consequently, the opportunities from a development such as Leeds South Bank are enormous. Land use change, which creates the opportunities for interventions, on this scale rarely happens. So, what is the role for Green Streets® in a scheme like Leeds South Bank and what can it add to what is already emerging from the investment to date?
South Bank is currently the most significant urban regeneration programme in the White Rose Forest. It is located south of the River Aire in the Holbeck district of Leeds; a former industrial heartland with a rich historical heritage. It was conceived a decade ago and is now in full build mode[1]. The different zones of re-development need to knit together within a largely fixed framework of streets, railway, canal and rivers with many of the buildings being retained, even some that have been long closed.
It has also now been highlighted as a New Town by Government in September 2025[2], where the ambition of at least 10,000 new homes per new town location is greater than the original plans for 8,000.
Aire Park, a South Bank neighbourhood with greenspace and active travel links
To begin with, it would have been ideal to have been there at the start, to apply Green Streets® Principles to this development, which advocates an equitable, multi-discipline approach to encourage free-thinking in how street trees and blue and green infrastructure (BGI) can be anchored into a programme of works.
Opportunities may still present themselves, however. Whilst the South Bank master plan has ambition for BGI within the development neighbourhoods, more may still be achieved to ensure trees and BGI are be ubiquitous across the whole area – alongside every active travel route, shading public spaces, and creating a sense of place along streets that otherwise be untouched by works.
The White Rose Forest team has extensive experience of assessing the suitability of streetscapes for trees, both individually and as group planting. Where a hierarchical road network is being used[3], this should provide opportunities to re-allocate road space, introduce street trees, thereby encouraging greater occupation of these spaces by pedestrians and commercial interests as has been seen in many places in the UK.
Why do greener streets matter? Well, the benefits of urban trees are manifold. The ecosystem services they provide including shade to reduce urban heat, slowing intense rainfall run-off, noise and pollutant reductions, and habitat connectivity. For instance, studies have found a typical difference in air temperature of 2-2.5 degrees between city centres and other urban areas[4], and as illustrated below.
Urban heat island profile diagram
Trees also create a sense of place, encourage active travel and increase property values and marketability. Increasingly spending time in nature, even just in urban environments with street trees, has recognised benefits for mental-health[5].
With trees as a vital part of the whole South Bank zone, the area can become an exemplar of a walkable, green and healthy city centre. Distinctiveness is vital for competitiveness, and it is increasingly recognised that economically successful places are also green ones[6] as this quality of place brings in a workforce that want to live and work there, so stimulating commercial investment.
The White Rose Forest recognises that trees make places more liveable, something we are becoming more aware of as summer temperatures increase. But they also bring people closer to nature and biodiversity back into the city. Green Streets® needs to be the norm, and we are here to help our partners achieve this across our urban areas.
Read more about Green Streets® on our website visit or contact us.
[1] Leeds South Bank Project – A Decade on – CityRise
[2] Expert Taskforce recommends locations for new towns – GOV.UK
[4] Cooling efficacy of trees across cities is determined by background climate, urban morphology, and tree trait | Communications Earth & Environment
[5] How Urban Trees Can Impact Wellbeing at Scale | Trees for Cities
[6] The Economic Benefits of Creating Green Cities | THRIVE Project