Sponsored by
East Leeds Family Learning Centre: Demolition work to start
Council chiefs are to spend nearly £1m bulldozing a family learning centre in Seacroft they say is too run down to repair.
Work to demolish the East Leeds Family Learning Centre in Seacroft will start soon after the building becomes empty next month.
A children's centre operating from the East Leeds site will be transferred to Seacroft Children's Centre, South Parkway, which is to be refurbished and extended at a cost of just over 1m.
Over the years the East Leeds centre – a former high school – has been used as a base for a range of council services, including training facilities.
A report to the council's Executive Board said there had been concerns about the building's suitability because of its age and condition and in February this year, following a series of major plant failures, it became unfit for purpose and uneconomic to repair.
Demolition, which will include asbestos surveying and removal, could start in October and be completed by March.
Coun Keith Wakefield , the council's Labour group leader, said: "I accept the building is in a poor state of repair and it's got to go but it comes at a time when 32 per cent of the working age population in Seacroft are unemployed.
"There is no strategy to replace these training facilities."
Coun Les Carter, executive member for housing and neighbourhoods, said the council had provided some facilities in the Gipton area to help people without jobs and further ideas would be put forward.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Coun Brian Selby (Lab, Killingbeck and Seacroft) said: "This is a very sad day for East Leeds.
"This centre had a proven track record of getting people back to work, partially by working closely with local employers like Tesco. The centre not only increased the skills of people attending the course, but it also gave them much needed confidence to look at new job opportunities.
"I am calling on the council to show some genuine commitment to the people of East Leeds by replacing these much loved facilities – and I want them to do so quickly."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Friday 18 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 7 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North
