YEP says: Time for talking is over - let's see action in Holbeck

For over three decades an area south of the city, around Holbeck and Globe Road, has been somewhere “ripe for development”.

Land was bought up as industries declined but recession left some holding the deeds to plots which were worth less than they’d paid for it - and that’s planning blight.

Now, after Leeds City Council gave the go-ahead to CEG’s massive proposals for the Globe Road and Water Lane area of Holbeck it looks like things will start moving.

CEG has a history of transforming former industrial sites into modern developments, incorporating space for business and living. It’s the brains behind the Kirkstall Forge transformation. This is Saltaire for the 21st century - with a Scandinavian feel. At Kirkstall Forge clean line designs are evident in the office space, houses and layout, whilst much is made of the proximity to woodland and walkways, the riverside and transport. It has a “model village” feel - complete with it’s own rail station.

A vision for a Holbeck Urban Village began in the 1980s, as City Plans Panel chair Coun Jim McKenna reminded everyone at the meeting. Now he urged developers to “get on with it”. It’s a boost this area of Leeds sorely needs.