City centre park WILL be built, as final plans approved by planning chiefs

“Imaginative”, “forward-looking” and “all rather wonderful” were some of the ways decision-makers described plans to build a brand new park in Leeds city centre which were approved this afternoon.
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Leeds City Council’s City Plans Panel met to discuss plans from developers Vastint to create a brand new two-hectare park on part of the old Tetley’s brewery site in the heart of the city’s emerging South Bank area.

The blueprints form the first part of one of the city’s biggest-ever building projects, which also includes 850 flats, a five-storey office building and two hotels, all of which was given outline planning permission in 2018.

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But detailed plans for the park, which would be split into five zones and include an amphitheatre, water feature and children’s play areas, was unanimously given the green light by panel members at a meeting this week.

An artist's impression of the development.An artist's impression of the development.
An artist's impression of the development.

Presenting the plans to the meeting, Leeds City Council planning officer Daljit Singh said: “This is a 21st-century park that meets the climate change emergency declaration.

“The proposals present a major contribution to a multi-functional city park, that will be child-friendly and accessible. It will be a catalyst for the regeneration of the Tetley brewery site and the wider south bank.”

As part of the plans, an area around half the size of Millennium Square to the northwest of the site would be known as the Tetley Triangle – a hard-surfaced events space for “concerts, markets, outdoor cinema and outdoor cafe”.

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“The green”, a grassed area to the west of the site with an amphitheatre; the sensory “theatre gardens”; and “central park”, made up of grassed areas, trees, play areas and a water feature, would make up the rest of the site.

Commenting on the plans, Coun Neil Walshaw (Lab) said: “This is all rather wonderful. I am pleased to see Vastint bringing forward a city park as a first stage. I have no doubt Vastint will create an excellent set of plans.”

Coun Paul Wadsworth (Con) said: “This is a great piece of work. It looks on paper really good.”

He added that more should be done to introduce outdoor exercise equipment to the park.

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While she supported the plans overall, Coun Elizabeth Nash commented on the proposed species of trees for the park, claiming many would be unsuitable for for such an area.

She said: “Why are the trees not the same as we had agreed? You have got trees like alder which are water-loving trees – the last tree that you want there.

“Common limes are full of aphids and secrete a sugar solution which attracts a fungus and drips on everybody and everything.

“Who would want to walk under a common lime tree and be dripped on with the secretions of aphids?”

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She was told by council officers that there were concerns that other species of lime trees were narcotic to bees.

Coun Graham Latty (Con) said: “I think this is absolutely super.

“I think it’s going to be hard to move in there, in terms of those who want to go to it, it’s going to be a very popular space.

“I had visualised grassland, and a park – to me a park is rolling grass, and there is not quite enough of it, but I can see why.”

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Coun Asghar Khan (Lab) said: “I think it’s going to be a great legacy in the city centre – it will be open to all communities. Local residents will be welcoming this fantastic green space in the city.”

Coun Peter Gruen (Lab) called it an “exemplary scheme”, while fellow Labour councillor Caroline Gruen called the plans “excellent, imaginative, forward-looking and really helpful”.

“I am delighted there are two play areas and they are for two different age groups of children,” she added. “I feel passionately that this is a children’s place as well as an adult’s place.

“I would like to see something that encourages exploratory and active play, and gets away from just being on a swing or a roundabout.”

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Coun Dan Cohen (Con) said: “I think this is a superb proposal and I think it will be something that changes this part of the city for generations to come in so many different ways.”

Coun Colin Campbell (Lib Dem) added that the scheme was “positive” and that he hoped to see work start in the Spring.

“What a difference this will make,” said Coun David Blackburn (Green). “I used to pass this site on my way to work many many years ago. To imagine you could have such a nice, beautiful piece of green in that situation was not believable.

“I still have concerns about maintenance, and it must be done properly. Doing this and not looking after it properly would be a disaster.”

Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the proposals.