Planning D-Day on east Leeds Premier League-backed football hub approaches

City planners have recommended the scheme, which would see four artificial 3G pitches, a pavilion and 227-space car park built across fields off Thorpe Park Approach, be approved.

More than 240 local people have opposed the council-led development in an effort to save the green space, with many arguing nature and ecology in the area will be irredeemably harmed.

Council officers have acknowledged the plans “will have an impact upon the biodiversity and ecology of the site”.

But they say new habitats will be created nearby to offset the impact and that the overall harm caused by the development will be outweighed by public benefits.

Other objectors have linked the rubber crumb used in 3G pitches to cancer cases, but the Football Association and Sport England both insist the material is safe and widely used without problems.

Councillors will meet to discuss the plans next Thursday, November 17, having previously deferred making a decision on the scheme in August to allow for more information to be gathered.

The scheme is funded by the Parklife football programme, a Premier League and Football Association-backed organisation which aims to address the “chronic shortage” of quality football pitches in England.