A look at new build housing estates in Leeds as major developer looks for new sites across the city

With the final ‘sold’ sign recently going up at a new homes development in Garforth, its developer, Redrow, has announced it is now on the hunt for new opportunities in and around Leeds.

The Garforth site, which transformed an old factory site off Ninelands Lane, saw a total of 241 homes built - and all are now sold.

The development comprised two adjoining Redrow outlets, Aspen Park, with its Georgian-inspired townhouses and The Poplars, featuring predominantly detached homes.

Now Redrow bosses say they are “actively seeking” new development opportunities around the city.

This is in addition to several which they say are already on the table including a potential new development on Manston Lane, Crossgates, which would form part of the East Leeds Extension area.

A planning application has been submitted jointly with Taylor Wimpey for that site, for 925 homes along with a proposed community hub and new primary school.

Speaking of the latest sold-out Garforth development, John Handley, managing director for Redrow Yorkshire, said: “Where the old Stocks Blocks manufacturing plant once stood in Garforth, we have now created a thriving community of new homes for a wide range of buyers from first-time owners to families and older people looking to downsize.”

The development also included 36 affordable homes, new public green spaces and cycle paths and made section 106 and Community Levy contributions of more than £2m to the local authority.

John said: “Our regeneration has turned an old brownfield site into a thriving, friendly and welcoming place for people to live. We are now keen to create more places like this across West Yorkshire and to continue to meet the demand for new homes and ensure a future housing supply.”

It comes as another major developer, Miller Homes, announced it had recently completed the acquisition of land in Collingham for a new homes’ development.

The site, on Leeds Road, has now been granted planning permission for 129 homes aims to help support buyers from all sectors of the market including those taking their first step onto the property ladder.

Ian Thomson, land director at Miller Homes Yorkshire, said: “The purchase allows Miller Homes to bring quality developments to the region in areas of the community where people really want to live.

“The development has been planned to give residents plenty of space and take advantage of its semi-rural location on the fringes of Collingham village.”

The plans include a section 106 contribution totalling over £200,000 which is focused on transport, to support both residents of the development and the wider community.

Part of the contribution has also been allocated to flood work.

Ian said: “The Miller Homes team in Yorkshire has worked closely with the local council to achieve a design which focuses on quality and placemaking and we look forward to beginning work at the site imminently.

“Collingham is such a lovely part of Yorkshire to call home and we look forward to bringing much-needed homes to this well-established and welcoming community.”

The first homes on this development are expected to be available for sale later in 2022.

Work already underway on new developments in Leeds includes on the site of Stonebridge Mills, in Farnley, where the first homes went on sale earlier this year.

The £25m development on the site of the grade II-listed old mill began in May 2020 when Caddick Construction started work on redevelop the buildings and brownfield site on behalf of developers Rushbond Plc and Advent Developments.

The company planned to deliver 112 homes in total, with 82 of the homes being new-build contemporary style houses, alongside the regeneration of the derelict mill and cottages creating a further 30 homes.

Tim Reeve, on behalf of the joint developers, said the site has received “significant interest already”.

Construction also began earlier this year on new timber frame council housing in Leeds Meynell development in Holbeck.

Transformation of a vacant brownfield site into a new council housing development, the scheme will have 13 one-bedroom apartments, 10 two-bedroom apartments and six three-bedroom houses.

All houses will be built in timber frame ‘modules’ off-site as part of an innovative construction process.

That project is being delivered through Leeds City Council’s Housing Growth Programme (CHGP) which aims to build 1,500 new high-quality social housing units over the next five years.

Another major housing development - and one which attracted a large amount of opposition from the local community - is Persimmon Homes’ plans to build 450 homes on Laneside Farm, just off Victoria Road in Churwell.

The development was approved by Leeds City Council in late October 2021 but has been met with criticism in the past, having attracted a total of 917 objections from local residents.

The site will also contain a 1.8 hectare area of land for a primary school to be built in the future.

In north Leeds, Taylor Wimpey was granted outline planning permission in September 2021 for 785 homes, a food shop, primary school and public spaces on land north of Wetherby Racecourse.

The development has proved controversial within the local community, with hundreds of individual objections submitted at the time, including from ‘Better Wetherby’, a consortium of local people who work to improve the market town.

A public exhibition of the plans was held earlier this year before the developer submitted reserved matters proposals to the city council.

In February, plans for 299 homes were submitted for the site of a former quarry in Horsforth.

Taylor Wimpey Yorkshire purchased the former Woodside Quarry in north Leeds after it had stood redundant for more than 20 years.

As well as 299 homes - which would be a mix of two, three and four-bedroom plots - the plans included new areas of open space, with improved connectivity to the surrounding public footpath network.