It's to protect them from development. N6 status greatly reduces the value of land. The school has been seeking to remove the pitches' N6 status before it sells its Headingley site and moves to Alwoodley. Their attempts have so far been unsuccessful. But now that the sale of the school is imminent, Leeds City Council is under tremendous pressure to grant planning permission on the protected green spaces and to agree to demolition of some of the fine buildings so that the school can sell the land for more money.

On March 18, our Lib Dem councillors sent letters to 1,500 households, inviting the community to attend workshops "to express its views about what it would like to see on the site". Most of the people receiving these letters will be unfamiliar with the term "N6 Protected Playing Pitch" and be unaware that the vast majority of the Leeds Girls High School site is currently protected from development as a result of its N6 status.

The danger of these workshops is that they could lose us the vitally important N6 Protected Playing Pitch status. N6 status cannot apply to gardens or to parks. It can only apply to playing pitches. So if people go along to the workshops and say that they'd prefer flower gardens to playing pitches, the school will be able to argue that this shows that the playing pitches are no longer necessary.

Similarly, suggestions for alternative uses of the site occupied by the main school building could be used by the school as evidence of community support for demolition of the building.

If we want to keep our green space and our fine buildings, it's essential for people who already understand the issues, to come along to Headingley Methodist Church Hall tomorrow either to the drop-in (10.30-3.30) or to one of the two workshops (10.30-12.30 and 1.30-3.30) and register the following:

1) All the N6 Protected Playing Pitches to be retained as pitches

(a petition signed by over 1,000 people has been presented to Leeds City Council asking that the pitches be bought, at playing pitch price – ie cheap – for local schools and the community;

2) All the listed buildings to be retained;

3) The main school building to be retained – an application for listing is currently being processed by English Heritage.

If any of the Leeds Girls High School pitches are built on, then Sport England will require that replacement pitches be created in the vicinity, i.e on Woodhouse Moor. This will result in a double loss for the community, the original pitches AND our open parkland.

Bill McKinnon, Friends of Woodhouse Moor