Demolition of sports club to build homes to be decided next week?

The demolition of The West Yorkshire Sports and Social Club in Sandal will be discussed by planning chiefs next Thursday, with proposals to sell the council-owned land to developer Persimmon Homes.

The detailed plans were first submitted in June 2013 and given approval by the planning committee in December 2014 but quickly ran into legal issues.

Providing the council’s cabinet agrees to the sale of the land off Sandal Hall Close, contracts could be exchanged and the developer can sign the necessary Section 106 agreement.

This would amount to more than £1.1 million worth of contributions to cover traffic schemes, green space, leisure, sport and cultural projects and education.

If agreed, it would see the seven-hectare site cleared of its clubhouse, changing rooms, sports pitches, floodlights, bowling green, tennis courts and car parking.

The site has been subject to housing plans dating back to 1995, although none were ever carried through.

The current application received 80 objections when it was first proposed in 2013, with many unhappy about the loss of the facility on that land and the increased traffic caused by 171 homes.

Planning permission was granted in 2014 for the club to move to purpose-built facility off Shay Lane in Walton, just over a mile away.

This includes building a club house and pavilion, car parking, two bowls pitches, football pitches, six tennis courts with pavilion, two cricket pitches with score boxes and tea pavilion, a rugby pitch, a five-a-side football pitch, cricket nets, groundsman store building, floodlighting and a new access from Shay Lane.