It seems Leeds City Council can't wait to get its hands on the city's green spaces, presumably for eventual privatisation to absolve the council from maintenance costs. We pay council tax then will pay again to use our local parks.
Emboldened by a similar tactic at Tinshill Rec, city planner Paul Gough has told the community of Hyde Park and Woodhouse that the council "has no choice" but to convert the Hyde Park Corner tennis courts on the Moor to a MUGA (Multi User Games Area)
, which will not include tennis courts. The council has, says Mr Gough, accepted money from Leeds University to establish sports pitches on Woodhouse Moor, in return for allowing the University to build on the wonderful pitches on the old Leeds Grammar School site adjoining the Moor (now occupied by the Business School).
The local community is expected to roll over and accept this move and allow the council to march all over Woodhouse Moor.
This encroachment on the Moor may only be a relatively small start, but we can be sure more will follow if we submit.
Mr Gough, despite his very senior position in Planning, appears not to have read the Government Planning Policy PPG17. This specifically protects an open green space like the Moor for the community against any encroachment, council or otherwise.
If Leeds Council gets away with this move, a similar one is waiting in the wings to be tried by the Leeds Girls High School to enhance the value of the site they are moving from, much of which is protected for sports facilities. Such protected land cannot be built on unless alternative sports facilities are provided elsewhere in the locality.
The planners' first duty is to the communities which pay their wages, including the duty to uphold the planning laws and regulations designed to protect these communities.
Just so everyone is clear, Mr Gough proposes (I quote) "upgrading of tennis courts on Woodhouse Lane to form a multicourt area." He suggests, but is careful not to actually state, that the council has a legal obligation to make such a conversion, because the University has supplied £255,697 towards sports facilities to replace those the University has built on (or is building on) at the old Grammar School site. The University may have a legal obligation to provide such alternative facilities, but can't simply take Woodhouse Moor for them. 'Upgrading' should not mean 'loss'.
JANET A BAILEY, Headingley, Leeds
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