Historic Leeds mansion to be converted into 334 student flats despite nearby pub’s ‘intrusiveness’ warning

Springfield House, a Grade II-Listed building in Woodhouse, and its grounds is set to be redeveloped to house 334 students.

Developer McLaren applied for permission to convert the former mansion house and add two new wings of up to 13 storeys.

The application for planning permission and listed building consent was opposed by heritage groups over its impact on the Woodhouse-Clarendon Road Conservation Area.

Nearby pub venue the Faversham also objected, saying the flats would overlook wedding receptions held in its grounds.

Steven Allison, who runs the venue, told the council’s City Plans Panel: “This is a serious threat to our business. The impact from that intrusiveness is going to be disastrous, we believe.

“If we have to close down it will be a travesty. We employ more than 30 full-time employees.”

The meeting was told specialist light and acoustics assessments had been carried out by the developer. Council planning officers did not believe there was a negative impact on the neighbouring site.

Existing wings would be demolished to make way for the two new buildings of between four and 13 storeys.

A sideshow presented at the hearing showed the two new wings would sit on either side of Springfield House, with the taller extension at one end.

Historic England, a statutory consultee, formally objected on heritage grounds, raising concerns the new wings would tower over the original building.

Historic England’s objection said: “The extensions are taller than the listed building and will dominate it in terms of scale.”

Objectors also included Leeds Civic Trust and Little Woodhouse Community Association. Concerns included noise, traffic problems and a loss of privacy.

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The panel voted to agree a recommendation to defer and delegate the application to the council’s chief planning officer for approval, subject to legal agreements with the developer.

Because of Historic England’s statutory objection, the scheme will also be referred to the secretary of state for Levelling up, Housing and Communities.

Springfield House was built in 1792 by the cloth-dresser Thomas Livesey on a field called Well Close.

From 1865 it was owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese, which built a seminary that was eventually knocked down in 1971.

The original building was Grade II-Listed in 1963 but fell into disrepair and was boarded up in the late 1970s. It became offices in 1982 and was used as a clinical research facility from 1987.