By John Baron
Additional reporting: Katherine Turner
Community campaigners are celebrating after a successful six-year battle to prevent housing being built on a Wortley sports pitch.
Leeds United and the Leeds School Sports Association (LSSA) have agreed a proposal in principle that could see the TV Harrison Sports Ground transferred to Leeds United on a 250-year lease for £50,000.
The deal includes a covenant that mandates that the ground can only ever be used for sport and never used for houses, which secures the long-term future of the site often referred to as ‘Wortley’s Wembley’.
The proposal will also see Leeds United invest in the ground to improve the playing facility.
As revealed by West Leeds Dispatch in 2018 Leeds City Council proposed building up to 50 houses on the then derelict site.
Angry residents organised a campaign to save the historic ground. They took legal action and successfully prevented Leeds City Council from building on the site. They also restored the ground as a playing pitch and have been playing matches on it ever since.
The council withdrew its planning application in December and the sale to Leeds United by the LSSA, which owns most of the land, has this week been agreed in principle, although some details are still to be ironed out.
Michael Meadowcroft, Chair of the TV Harrison Sports Ground Association, said: “This is a great victory for the local community and it shows that with determination and solidarity it is possible to defeat the big establishment forces and to retain a historic local amenity.
“The success of the campaign and the bright future for the ground and its sports and community facilities is now assured.
“We no longer have to face the possibility of a fifth legal action to enforce the covenants that Harrison got inserted in the 1928 contracts to ensure that the ground remained as a facility for the children of Leeds.
“The committee is delighted that its long struggle has been crowned with success.”
Following the agreement of the initial proposal Leeds United will engage with the community to gauge support. There will then be a period in which any group is also permitted to submit their own equivalent bid for the ground, under the normal rules associated with an Asset of Community Value.
Leeds South West and Morley MP Mark Sewards helped bring all parties together to find a solution for the historic football ground.
Mr Sewards said: “I’m so pleased to announce that the initial offer from Leeds United has now been accepted by LSSA.
“There are still some small details to work out, but the next step will see Leeds United engage with the community to determine if this is what the residents of Farnley & Wortley want. Given that I’ve worked on this deal and that it will see investment in our community, I will be advocating for it in the strongest possible terms.
“I was elected as a councillor in Farnley & Wortley in 2022 on the promise that I would support the TV Harrison Action Group’s campaign and use my influence with the Labour Group on Leeds City Council to convince the council not to build on the historic site and consider other options.
“Once I’d completed that task, the next was to find a suitable solution that guaranteed the future of the ground.
“I have continued this work as a Member of Parliament and I cannot thank the TV Harrison Action Group, LSSA, Leeds City Council and Leeds United enough for the work and many, many conversations we’ve had over these last three years to secure this outcome.”
Campaigner Arron Lambert, who runs a business on Oldfield Lane, welcomed the news. He said: “The deal with Leeds United is massive. We have been waiting for it to be concluded for about two years.
“My daughter’s letter to [then Leeds manager] Marcelo Bielsa may have started all this off and got us a foot in the door with [Leeds United Chief Executive] Angus Kinnear. We have it pinned up in our shop.
“Leeds have said they want to work closely with the community – they’ve been on the ground numerous times already.”
Leeds United had no comment at this stage. WLD approached LSSA for comment yesterday.
Campaigners’ thanks
Mr Meadowcroft has thanked the people who supported the campaign to save the ground over the years.
He said: “Along the journey there have been key individuals.
“The initial petition to the City Council was led by Arron Lambert. The difficult research into key legal documents was done by Clare O’Keefe before she moved to Wakefield. Lea Westerman took on the important secretarial and treasurer roles. David Binns put together the Business Plan and maintained the website.
“A team of four – Mark Baum, Steve Housman, Dave Hewson and Simon Wintle – took on the week by week task of maintaining the football pitch and keeping the whole ground in good order, with help from all members of the committee when needed. And the continual fundraising was led by Nadine Cuddy.
“All this was supported by a committee that stayed together through the years and gained the Leeds United icon Peter “Stix” Lockwood as its Honorary President. I came in part way through to add my long years of political experience to deal with all the bureaucracy.
“We also had the solid support of the local Green councillors and, from 2022, the Labour councillor, now local MP, Mark Sewards, who achieved the remarkable feat of persuading his own party on the Leeds City Council to change its policy and to end its plan to develop the site.
“Finally Angus Kinnear, the Chief Executive of Leeds United, who understood the importance of a local ground for junior and women’s teams and was prepared to get the club to buy the ground, thus preserving it for the future.
“Throughout the years local residents have supported the retention of the ground whenever they have been consulted and The Queen pub next to the ground has always been a supporter of the campaign. Latterly the Leeds Civic Trust has agreed to place a blue plaque on the pub wall to commemorate Tom Vernon Harrison’s initiative in saving the ground in 1928 – almost a century ago.”
History
The site has been a sports ground from the 1850s when it was privately owned by the local Ingham family.
In 1928 Tom Vernon Harrison, a local headteacher, and very much associated with school sporting activities in the city, discovered that the Inghams intended to sell the ground for development.
With two colleagues he immediately arranged to purchase the ground in order to retain it for sports activities for the children of Leeds. He then set up an appeal to raise the funds for the purchase. With the active support of the Yorkshire Evening Post this was an immense success. Within three months the appeal raised £2,216 – equivalent to £118,000 today – sufficient to buy the site and for ancillary costs.
Harrison then entrusted the site to a local schools sports charity which became the Leeds Schools Sports Association (LSSA) and he ensured that covenants were inserted into the deeds to protect its use as a sports ground. He also recruited the Westminster Bank as “Custodian Trustee” further to safeguard its use. Sadly Harrison died in 1929 and as a tribute to his work, the ground was named after him.
In 2002 the LSSA abandoned the ground and it became overgrown. By 2006 the Leeds City Council and the LSSA agreed that the site could be developed for housing, despite the covenants.
The City Council then changed its zoning designation and soon after a local group was formed to campaign to retain the site for sports use. This campaign has now succeeded.
Further coverage
West Leeds Dispatch has been shining the spotlight on the future of the ground since 2018, and has featured over 70 articles on the issue. They can all be read here.
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