Grove Hill Park Otley: Plans for new meeting hall for local 'Men's Shed' group in Leeds market town unveiled

The site of vacant land next to Grove Hill Park on Ilkley Road in Otley with a small building which is now dilapidated could soon host a hall intended to accommodate the Wharfedale Men’s Shed.

Plans include the demolition of the now closed “Tea Room” and the construction of a new hall that would host the group’s workshop.

Wharfedale Men’s Shed is a community group which arranges weekly meetings for people, particularly men over the age of 18 in the area to socialise and to “hone their joinery, sewing, tea and coffee making skills” aiming at reducing loneliness and improve mental health.

The group has been searching unsuccessfully for adequate workshop accommodation since its foundation in 2018, and hopes the new space would provide a suitable base to support the well-being of mainly retired men, it said.

Since the group is a charity, funds for the construction, management and maintenance of the new hall will need to be raised by grants and public funding.

In the application, the group described the plans for the new building: “The new building will be set back from the existing stone wall at the north end of the site and will be built gable-on to the street.

“The level difference between the road and site, and the set-back behind the existing wall will reduce the prominence of the building from the road. As the site is a long distance from the street frontage it will not be seen in long views.

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“[It] will be a simple portal frame, clad in larch, with a low-pitched roof. Windows will be double glazed aluminium and the doors will be timber clad.

“A similar approach was taken in the construction of the Burley in Wharfedale Scout and Guide Headquarters, which is set within a public open space within a Conservation Area.”

Consultation is scheduled for Friday, June 14, with any comments to be submitted before Friday, June 28.