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Hyde Park: Fete day as residents' ex-school building campaign goes on
They may have been evicted but a group of residents who staged the occupation of an old Woodhouse school building show no signs of giving up their fight.
The campaigners, who want the former Royal Park Primary School in Woodhouse saving for community use, held a winter fete in the school's playground on Sunday to highlight the role the building and its grounds could play in providing community facilities.
The event included a circus skills workshop, junior football, table top sale, face painting, music and games.
Organisers of the fete said it showed that the building could be the "beating heart of the community."
Royal Park has remained empty since it closed five years ago and the council is currently considering options for its future.
Frustrated by what they considered a lack of progress and fearing the building could be demolished if allowed to deteriorate further, a group of residents occupied the large Victorian school and set about clearing debris and doing their own repairs.
They moved out of the main school building on Wednesday after the council was granted a possession order.
Some people are continuing to occupy the former caretaker's house which will be the subject of a Leeds County Court hearing tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the council is being urged to allow repairs to be carried out to Royal Park's roof.
Sue Buckle, of the Royal Park Community Consortium, which – although
not part of the occupation – is also working on proposals for the building to become a community facility, fears it will fall into further disrepair unless roof repairs are carried out soon.
Lead flashings were removed from the roof during the summer – believed to be an attempted theft.
Ms Buckle said: "whoever was responsible didn't get away with the lead and it was taken for storage by the council."
She said despite repeated calls, the council had not replaced the flashings.
She added: "The building suffered water damage when the lead was there so the problem will be much worse now. The council evicted people who were improving the building but are doing nothing about an intruder causing serious damage – rainfall."
Ms Buckle said a builder had offered to carry out roof repairs if the council made the lead available.
But a council spokesman said: "While we appreciate the residents' offer, we have had to decline it as any work would have to be made by approved contractors while the building is our responsibility.
"We don't want to see the building's condition deteriorate further so are looking into making the roof watertight as soon as possible.
However it would not be the best use of tax payers' money to make expensive repairs at this stage as the building will be substantially refurbished when it is sold in the near future."
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Sunday 05 February 2012
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