Council set to decide on increasing capacity for gigs at Roundhay Park to 80,000

The current capacity of the venue is just under 20,000, but if plans are approved today, Leeds could become home to one of the UK's biggest outdoor concert venues.

- > Ram raiders smash cars into offices in Leeds city centre and make off with high end laptops

The increase would put capacity on a par with London's Twickenham Stadium, Manchester's Old Trafford football ground and Reading Festival.

Pop superstar Ed Sheeran is set to play two nights on August 16 and 17 this year, and the council now wants to increase the scope for larger-scale live events to take place in Leeds’s biggest park.

The licensing committee, chaired by Councillor Mary Harland, is scheduled to meet at 10am on Tuesday to discuss and vote on the proposal put forward by the authority's parks and countryside department.

In their application the team states: "Roundhay Park is a city park providing a facility for the people of Leeds.

“[It] has been an iconic venue for large events throughout the years. In addition it provides a vital function for community groups and charities looking to host events to raise funds.”

It added that the park had previously held a licence for events capacity of 79,999, but this was reduced in 2006 due to the lack of demand for large scale events at the time

In the 1980s and 1990s, the venue played host to some of the biggest pop acts on the planet including The Rolling Stones in 1982, Genesis and Madonna in 1987, Michael Jackson in 1988 and U2 in 1997.

The liscensing commitee have receive several objections from residents ahead of the meeting who are arguing that infrastructure in the area is not adequate for such a large amount of people and are worried such large amounts of people will increase antisocial behaviour in the ward.