Life in Leeds City

Leeds has been voted as one of the best cities in the UK for its forward-thinking on how to reduce road congestion. For those who are stuck forever in the morning rush this may seem to come as a surprise, but Leeds has been recognised for its 'creativity' in reducing road congestion. Leeds City Council faced competition from more than 75 other UK cities in the Roads for the Future Competition with its suggestion that driver-less vehicles can be integrated into existing road networks of the UK. The Council looked at how cars of the future could communicate with each other to improve traffic light sequences and, in turn, enable better traffic flow through the city. Although 81 entries were submitted from across the UK, but only five cities - including Leeds - suggestions made a shortlist. Judges were so impressed with Leeds City Council that it was awarded a share of £25,000 of the £50,000 prize fund to invest in the scheme. Sir John Armitt, Chairman of the Natio

Leeds has further strengthened its ability to trade with China through a series of agreements to stimulate trade with the port city of Qingdao, which has a GDP of one trillion yuan. This cam from a week long trade and investment mission to China, which included visits to Leeds Twin cities Hangzhou and Hong Kong. During the visit, the delegation signed two Memorandum of Understandings with partners in the city to help and encourage businesses from the UK from cities outside of London. The first of these two agreements was signed with the China-Britain Industry Innovation Park. The park, which opened in November 2017, aims to enhance bilateral cooperation and export opportunities between the two nations. A second Memorandum of Understandings was signed with the China International Trade Promotion Council to increase Trade opportunities between Qingdao and Leeds City through a co-ordinated activity.  In Leeds, it is crucial for businesses to effectively position thei

Since 1990, there has been a rapid increase in the number of passenger and freight that are transported via rail in the UK and the increased demands for greater reliability and efficiency have led to renaissance of the UK's rail industry. High profile projects such as Crossrail and HS2 clearly show that rail has a future in the UK. As momentum builds around the investment in HS2 and upgrades to UK rail stock, the Leeds City Region sends a compelling message to rail infrastructure. Innotrans is the world's largest railway industry exhibition attracting 3,000 exhibitors and 140,000 delegates over four days. The Leeds City Region is central to the UK's high-speed rail industry. Leeds was chosen as a location for the HS2 Eastern Rail Supply Depot and is a destination for HS2 passenger services. As the UK updates its rail network and rolling stock fleet, the amount of investment in rail, together with HS2, exceeds that of any other European country. The chance to a

"Air pollution could be responsible for 60,000 cases of dementia in the UK," reports the Mail Online, which goes on to say that "people exposed to dirty air are 40% more likely to get the disease". Researchers looked at what happened to almost 140,000 people aged 50 to 79, registered with GP practices in London. They compared the pollution levels recorded near people's homes in 2004, then followed people up from 2005 until 2013. During the study follow-up period, 2,181 people got dementia, which equates to 1.7% of the participants. The researchers found that people living in areas of London with the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide (which is a by-product of traffic emissions) had an increased chance of getting dementia, compared to those living in areas with the lowest levels. The study did not show that air pollution caused the increased risk of dementia. The causes of dementia are poorly understood and it's likely that several factors contribute

When people think of air pollution, they usually picture the great cities of the East, such as Hong Kong, conquered by an unstoppable smog. And while this is certainly a accurate display of extreme levels of air pollution, the air pollution in the UK is not looked upon with the same horror as the people see no visible evidence of it. Another problem is that air pollution is often seen as the same as global warming and while air polluted with carbon dioxide contributes greatly to global warming, it must be known that air pollution is its own beast. Air pollution can be present without carbon dioxide and other harmful gases such as nitrogen dioxide can be more detrimental to those that breath it in despite having no effect on global warming. For this post, I want to focus on air pollution and not global warming, which is in its own right a major crisis, because air pollution is just as harmful and dangerous yet nowhere nearly well understood. Since the beginning of the industrial rev

A new engine developed by Dearman which runs on liquid nitrogen has the potential to help solve the air pollution crisis that has gripped Leeds and cities across the UK. The engine has also been found to be cost-effective and to emit no air pollution whatsoever. Read More The Dearman liquid nitrogen TRU emits no air pollution, unlike conventional diesel engines. Dearman's liquid nitrogen engines have been designed to power transport refrigeration units (trus) that are used in trucks to keep food and other goods cool while in transit. Trus are typically powered by diesel engines but are not subject to the same emission standards as the main engine of ordinary vehicles and consequently, tru engines can emit six times more air pollution than the diesel engines that are used in ordinary vehicles. If Dearman's new engine were to replace the diesel engines that are currently used across Leeds in these trus, it is predicted that the groundbreaking technology could redu