A lifeline organisation supporting older people in Armley is set to move its services when its current base closes later this year.
As previously reported, cash-strapped Leeds City Council is selling Strawberry Lane Community Centre as it struggles to balance its books.
And this week it has been confirmed that the council will close the centre on 1 December, 2025, meaning Armley Helping Hands – which supports older people in parts of LS12 – will be relocating to a new base.
In an e-mail to stakeholders this week, Armley Helping Hands CEO Dawn Newsome shut down rumours the organisation would be closing and said it will continue its services in a new space.
Ms Newsome said: “We want to address recent speculation and confirm that we are not closing our services or our doors!
“We remain committed to serving our older people and community and look forward to continuing to deliver vital services, activities and intervention to our older people, families and people living in Armley and Wortley district of Leeds 12.
“The Board of Trustees are in dialog with Leeds City Council, residents and our elected ward Councillors for Armley and Wortley to look at alternative accommodation within our community. We hopefully will be able to make a formal announcement by the middle/late October of our proposed relocation.
“We will unfortunately have to reduce services and activities for the following periods so that we can prepare for our move.”
Reduced services will run Monday, 20 October to Wednesday, 22 October and Monday, 24 November 2025 to Friday, 28 November 2025.
Ms Newsome added: “We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, we have taken every step to ensure this transition will have minimal impact on our services. Our phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same.
“Thank you for being a part of our journey. We look forward to welcoming you to our new space! We will reopen at our new location on Monday, 1 December 2025.”
The council says Strawberry Lane’s high running costs and the building requires substantial maintenance and upgrading, which is financially unviable.
WLD understands the building needs more than £1 million investment to stay open. Parts of the community centre are currently unused.
Earlier this year, WLD reported on a council u-turn to reverse plans to cut 10% of their funding of neighbourhood networks across Leeds, including Armley Helping Hands.
The council faces rising costs in services such as adult social care, while central Government has underfunded local authorities across the country over the past 15 years.
Follow WLD’s ongoing Cutswatch series – which chronicles budget cuts in West Leeds by local and national government – here.
Dawn Newsome, CEO Armley Helping Hands