Controversial plans to build houses in the car park of a Leeds Home Bargains unveiled

Developers Amberstone want to build eight semi-detached houses round the back of Home Bargains in Roundhay.

Each would be three-bedroom properties and would have private front and rear gardens with parking spaces.

The car park itself, off Roundhay Road, is used by shoppers but the site is not owned by the retailers themselves.

A total of 25 objections have been submitted against the plans by local people, amid concerns about the impact on wildlife and highway safety issues.

Leeds City Council’s planning officers have recommended the plans be approved however, ahead of a meeting on Thursday where the matter could be decided.

A report by officers said the proposed homes, “are considered to tie in well with the residential dwellings in the immediate vicinity and are not considered to harm the character of the area.”

Under the scheme, access to the car park from Gledhow Rise, which runs along the side of Home Bargains, would be closed off. A new access road would be built between two houses on Oakwell Mount, on the other side of the store.

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Three trees would be lost if the scheme is allowed, though the developers have promised to plant nine new ones.

Among objectors’ other arguments is that the applicant had not notified neighbours of the plans.

But officers said that, “Whilst the local planning authority does encourage developers to engage with the local community, this is not a requirement under any planning legislation.”

Elected councillors will have the final say on whether or not the plans should be approved.