Leeds ex-factory regeneration plan will put '˜community' at heart

A regeneration blueprint for a historic former industrial site on Kirkstall Road will put neighbourhood and community at the centre of the vision, the people behind the project have pledged.

As reported in the YEP earlier this week, developer Clyde Ltd has put forward detailed plans to build more than 800 dwellings on the site of what was Yorkshire Chemicals Plc. And we can now reveal further details of the sprawling plans, which will include cafes, shops and leisure facilities as well as a huge landscaping strategy to form pedestrian friendly open space across the six acre site.

The proposal is known as City Reach 1 but has been re-drawn since original plans were lodged as Clyde Ltd is also working in the background on plans for City Reach 2, after also acquiring the neighbouring bus depot.

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A spokesperson for Clyde Ltd said that while the two will form two different planning applications, they have been designed with each other in mind.

Subject to planning approval, the site will have 400 homes for rent and 132 that will be for sale - making an eventual total of 1,367 homes. Architects had gone back to the drawing board over City Reach 1 and re-thought what was originally envisaged to be a development consisting of 1,015 units. It will now see 528 homes built across four blocks in a mix of studios, one, two and three bedroomed properties. They will be available in a mix of private rent or for sale, with a quota of affordable homes. In addition there will be a fifth block with 309 student apartments. Clyde’s representatives added: “By combining City Reach 1 and 2 they can together deliver a sustainable community, with an increased number of homes spread across both sites but at a lower density.”

The spokesperson said the refreshed plans will allow for more car parking and open space with plans for public art, a riverside park and the new Kirkstall Boulevard fronting the A65.

The main road into the development will be called Arrival Street with tall blocks lining it on either side. A village square will be built in the heart of the site with new shops and cafes surrounding it.

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Outline planning permission for re-development of the site was first granted in 2011, but was mothballed because of the economic downturn.

NEW LIFE FOR A HISTORIC SITE

The former Yorkshire Chemical Works site had accommodated a chemical works since the 1850s. The site ceased operations in January 2006 and the buildings were subsequently demolished.

The factory had actually started life as the Yorkshire Dyeware and Chemical Company, an amalgamation of five smaller firms led by well-known chemist William Perkin.

The company expanded rapidly in the early 1900s, and was huge by the 1930s, producing best-sellers including the ‘fast blue’ and yellow organic dyes.

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