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£100m Kirkstall plan may finally get go-ahead
AN AMBITIOUS £100m plan first proposed nearly four years ago to transform a part of west Leeds could finally get the go ahead next week.
Councillors are being asked to approve in principle a scheme to redevelop the Kirkstall district centre which will breathe new life into the area.
The news comes just days after work began on a similar project at nearby Kirkstall Forge where a riverside community of homes, shops, leisure facilities, green space and businesses is to be created.
A report to the council's west plans panel, which meets on Thursday, warns a decision on the proposed district centre development is needed soon because of the centre's deterioration.
Squares
The application covers a nine-acre area bounded by Commercial Road, Kirkstall Lane, Kirkstall Hill and Beecroft Street.
It includes:
New public squares
Shops, library, post office and pharmacy
669 apartments
Restaurant and cafe-bar
Health centre and council offices
Nursery and a new Post Sports Association Club.
About 900 parking spaces are proposed – some underground and some in a new multi-storey car park – and 1.8m will be spent improving roads and widening junctions close to the development.
While none of the apartments fall into the "affordable" category – subsidised sale or offered for rent through a housing association – the report to the panel says 25 per cent of the homes wil be managed, purpose-built student accommodation or aimed at key workers such as nurses, teachers, police officers, social workers and junior fire officers.
Some flats will be given over to sheltered accommodation. The 669 homes will be a mix of studio flats and one, two and three-bedroom flats.
The report says figures in a financial appraisal suggest the cost of the homes would range from 81,000 for a studio to 137,000 for a two bedroom flat.
Recommending councillors support the scheme, the report says: "Members have previously visited the site and noted the importance of this development for Kirkstall, representing to many the historical heart of the district centre, and the need for the regeneration of the area given its present state and condition.
"The new district centre will bring social and economic improvements to the locality. The proposals seek to provide a mixed use, vibrant and sustainable district centre in its original location to meet local needs in Kirkstall."
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
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Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
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