Fury as council confirm plans to close Pudsey Park Visitor Centre

Leeds Council announced its budget plans last night - set to be finalised at a full debate on February 24.

Since September, the council has been following through a process of robust financial planning to find savings which meet the £119m deficit.

The West Leeds Country Park Visitor Centre in Pudsey Park has been closed to the public due to Covid-19 restrictions and savings of £90k per year have been identified on the assumption that it will not re-open, the council outlined.

In late 2020, the council allowed residents to submit their thoughts through a consultation period.

A total of 2,035 residents responded to the survey.

Of these, at least 85% said they didn't want the centre to be closed permanently.

The council originally outlined plans to convert the centre into a cafe.

However, almost half of respondents said they would not use a cafe in the park and many said there were already enough in the town.

The council has now revealed plans to close the centre as originally intended - but not convert it into a cafe.

Instead, the council said engagement "will take place" with interested parties on "potentially taking over the building".

The report said: "There is a potential opportunity to repurpose or replace the existing buildings with a park cafe that could retain some of the educational elements of the visitor centre.

"Following consultation, the centre will remain closed and will not be converted into a café by the council; and engagement will take place with interested parties on potentially taking over the building."

Local councillors told the Yorkshire Evening Post they are "hugely disappointed" by the decision of the council.

Councillor Simon Seary questioned why the council "bothered to consult in the first place" after cementing their plans.

He said "More than 2,000 residents took part in the consultation, in the middle of a pandemic and timed over the Christmas period, which itself is a remarkable number - especially as some had tried to keep the process quiet.

"Around 85% of residents were against the closure, so I question why Leeds City Council bothered to consult in the first place".

Another aspect of the original council report to be put under scrutiny was a plan to move the location of the play area in the park - an element the councillor called "ridiculous".

In the new report, the playground will not be moved.

Cllr Seary added "I am pleased that the play park will not be moved - one of the more ridiculous elements of the original proposal - and will continue to fight these plans.

"Conservative Councillors were first elected in Pudsey in 2018 after many years of Labour councillors having neglected the town.

"Regrettably, the Labour-run Council seem hellbent on spending on vanity projects, rather than the needs of local residents."

Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor James Lewis said: “We are required to make decisions at a time when COVID-19 makes future planning uncertain and this budget particularly difficult. We know that COVID-19 will continue to have an ongoing financial impact and that it will be difficult to provide the same council services without changing the way we work.

“Over the last ten years we have balanced our budget despite reductions in funding that have seen a total of £2billion of government grants taken away from funding our council services. The recent government spending review failed to provide sufficient funding for adult social care or to fully close the gap caused by pressures associated with COVID-19. We of course continue to lobby the government in attempts to find more funding to reduce the impact of budget pressures on services.

“We have been left with a particularly steep mountain to climb this year in terms of the savings we have had to find. We have listened to residents views about what is important to them and revisited our proposals where possible to ensure they are representative of those views.

“Unfortunately we have already seen a number of experienced colleagues leave the council the impact of which will continue to be felt as more leave over the coming year. These are incredibly difficult times for Leeds City Council and none of these recommendations have been made lightly. Staff are showing incredible resilience and continues to work hard for the city. I would like to offer each a big thank you for their on-going efforts.”

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