Residents across west Leeds are set to be canvassed again on controversial plans to build 74,000 new homes across the city
As previously reported, the council is putting together the proposals to cater for a population boom in Leeds over the next 15 years.
And Farnley and Wortley councillors David and Ann Blackburn and Terry Wilford (all Green) this week wrote to residents in the Gamble Lane and Hare Park Mount area of Farnley to alert them of two ongoing threats to the greenbelt which have already caused local concern.
There are plans for greenbelt land bordered by Tong Road, Tong Drive and Gamble Lane to be made immediately available for 200 units of housing. It’s also proposed that land bordered by Hare Park Mount and Gamble Lane (pictured above) will be taken out of the green belt and held in reserve for potential future development beyond 2028.
In the letter they say that they – along with others, including Leeds Conservatives – have argued that the city-wide figure of 74,000 ‘is far too high and should be lowered’. They added:
“The consultations are yet to start and we will contact you again with further information at that stage. However, the public consultation will be the last chance for members of the public in the area to make their views known prior to the plans bveing put on deposit for the government inspector’s examination.”
Residents had already opposed both sets of proposals in Farnley at an initial consultation on proposals held last year. The next – and final -consultation is due to start in September.
The council says the highest allocation of new homes will be in the city centre and ‘inner area’ of Armley, Beeston Hill, Belle Isle, Gipton and Harehills, Hyde Park and Woodhouse, Hunslet and Seacroft.
Land allocated for housing in west Leeds also includes: 29 units at Airedale Mills in Rodley, planned developments along Calverley Lane, 70 houses at Hill Foot Farm in Pudsey, 160 houses down Hough Side Road, Pudsey, 99 houses off Acres Hall Avenue/Troydale Lane in Pudsey, 40 units on the former Wortley High School site, 35 houses at Wortley Low Mills off Whitehall Road, and 206 units of Dick Lane in Thornbury.
In Armley, there are also plans for 38 units off Wesley Road and land has been allocated for a mixed housing and employment at Armley Gyratory. Included in the land allocation is housing up Kirkstall Road and in the Otter Island area, off Kirkstall Road.
The Dispatch reported in June how council chiefs rejected government statistics on projected population growth in the city, which showed that the number of households in Leeds is projected to rise by just 44,500 over the next 15 years. They said the figures failed to take into account a number of local factors in Leeds.