Leeds flats: New 30-storey tower with children's play area approved near city centre

Developers City Life Holdings will construct the block, which will include 345 apartments, on Springwell Road in Holbeck. An old two-storey commercial building, close to the road’s junction with Whitehall Road, will be demolished to make way.

The scheme had been altered after criticism from city councillors at a planning meeting in July, which included concerns around the building’s height and a lack of car parking built into the development.

The proposed height was reduced by six storeys as a result, while the number of car parking spaces increased from 18 to 27.

The number of flats has also been scaled down from the original proposed number of 402, while plans to build a swimming pool on the ground floor have been abandoned completely.

Besides a children’s play area exclusively for families living on site, a feature thought to be one of the first of its kind in Leeds, there will be a rooftop garden and outdoor amenity space for residents to enjoy.

City councillors unanimously approved the proposals at a planning meeting on Thursday. Councillor Paul Wray, who’d savaged the perceived lack of car parking spaces linked to the development as “nonsensical” in July, praised the revised scheme.

He said: “I’d still like more car parking. It’s still a bit low, but it’s not as ridiculous as before. The overall change is much better.

"It’s much more balanced and focused on it being a sustainable community building, rather than just something for people in their twenties and thirties. The classic idea of what a city centre resident is is changing.”

Applauding the amount and nature of the community space in the development, Councillor Wray added: “It’s something I hope all developers in the city centre start to take on board. These are long-term permanent communities now. Things like this should be the standard.”