Leeds City Council has identified the top ten worst eyesore sites in the city with a view to working on them to bring them back into use – and South Leeds Sports centre, at the bottom of Beeston Road, is one of them.
Next week at a meeting of Leeds City Council’s executive board, members will be asked to approve work starting on the top ten list and continue this work into the next few years of the programme.
Earlier in the year the council’s executive board agreed a rolling budget of £500,000 to tackle eyesore sites across the city across three years, and now the worst offenders have been identified work can start to improve these buildings.
South Leeds Sports Centre closed in November 2010 and local campaigners – SPLASH – have been fighting to get the centre reopened. There had been talk of Citu – the developers behond eco development The Greenhouse in Beeston – looking to provide some kind of sports facility on the South Leeds Sports Centre site. More recently, the council has been looking at the site as a possible new primary school to meet the growing demand for school places in the area.
The top ten sites identified across the city are:
- 2 Brand Road, Armley
- Chapeltown Road Old Gurdwara and Hindu Temple
- Former Jyoti video shop, 195 Chapeltown Road
- Former Lingfield Public House
- Alwoodley Former Mobil service station, Chapeltown Road
- Seacroft Grange, York Road
- Former Lord Cardigan Public House, Bramley
- The Hermitage, 31-37 High Street, Kippax
- Former South Leeds Sports centre
- Former Ralph Thoresby School site
The list of identified sites across the city has now reached 67, with a mixture of council and privately owned property.
The list will be worked though prioritising action on those properties which have the most significant impact on neighbourhoods or district centres. Phase one of the project will include 34 properties, and work will begin on each of these properties in the next year.
Councillor Peter Gruen, Leeds City Council executive board member with responsibility for neighbourhoods, planning and support services said:
“There are a large number of sites and buildings which are unused, derelict or in a poor state of repair across the city.
“So far improvements have already been made to five properties; the former Middleton Arms, former Cottingley Arms, Park Lees Adult Education Centre and the Lord Cardigan Public House in Bramley, all of which have been demolished. Work has also started on the clean up and improvement works to the fomer petrol station on Broad Lane in Bramley.
“We have a list of over 60 sites already that we have identified and will be taking swift action to start to tackle them. There are improvements to some of the sites that we will be able to secure quickly, but a number on the list will require a concerted effort over a number of years.
“This scheme is not simply about making a list and then doing nothing. We really want to work with owners of buildings to ensure that these sites do not blight areas in the city and are not simply just tidied up, but brought back into use.
“We are not just targeting privately owned buildings either – we know we have our own sites that are suffering, and we will, where possible, be looking at what we can do with these sites to lead by example.”
Meanwhile, people who live inBeeston/Holbeck are being asked for their views on proposals from organisations who want to run a new primary school on the site.
Leeds City Council says it has been working on a programme to increase primary school places around the city, in order to make sure there are enough places for the increasing number of children being born. As part of this programme, the council consulted on the need for two new primary schools, one at Florence Street, Harehills to open in September 2013 and one at the site of the old South Leeds Sports Centre, Beeston Road, to open in 2014. Based on that consultation, a notice was published at the beginning of the year inviting people interested in running the schools to send their proposals to the council.
The council received three proposals for the new school at the South Leeds Sports Centre site, which were from:
2. The Learning Trust (South Leeds)
Click on the links to find out more about them.
The council is now inviting comments on these proposals from members of the local communities, including ward members and anyone with an interest in the proposals.
As previously reported on South Leeds Life, public meetings have been arranged for interested parties to find out more about each proposal and have their say. The meetings are at 2pm and 6.30pm today, at the Hamara Centre, Tempest Road,
If you can’t make the meeting, comments must be received by Leeds City Council by 4.00pm on 20 August 2012: In writing to: The director of children’s services, c/o Capacity Planning and Sufficiency Team, Children’s Services, 10th Floor West, Merrion House, 110 Merrion Centre, Leeds LS2 8DT. By email to: educ.school.organisation@leeds.gov.uk
Copies of the full proposals are available on www.leeds.gov.uk, by calling 0113 224 3867, or by contacting the proposers directly.
I think top of the list is actually 2, Branch Road.
Better known as Mike’s Carpets !!