Plans for 3.5 hectare city centre park to be discussed
Plans for a 3.5 hectare city centre park in Leeds are to be further discussed tomorrow and if approved will see work begin in the site in the coming 18 months.
Leeds City Council Executive Board will discuss the plans for the park, which would be on land next to The Tetley, which forms part of the council’s regeneration programme for the South Bank.
The document on the agenda for discussion states: “One of the landmark proposals that is now moving towards being delivered is the long standing ambition for a new green City Centre Park. The Park was highlighted as the public’s number one priority for delivery in the South Bank in the 2016 consultation.
The park is proposed on land owned by multiple parties including the council at Meadow Lane – a site that is currently two pay and display car parks and location of multiple lanes of highway. Vastint has progressed its outline planning application to include the first phase of the park.
“There is therefore an opportunity for the majority of the park to be operational within the next five years, when considering the Council’s and Vastint’s land interests in the area,” says the document.
The council said that it was important to raise that more phases could follow in future years on land owned by a party outside of LCC and Vastint.
The council said that the overall regeneration of the South Bank overall would effectively double the size and economic impact of Leeds City Centre, providing over 35,000 jobs and over 8,000 homes. It is one of the largest city centre regeneration initiatives in Europe, and will capture the growth of Leeds City Centre for the coming decades.
In October 2017, the council’s Executive Board gave approval for consultation to take place on a draft South Bank Framework Plan Supplementary Planning Document. The proposals contained in the Framework Plan seek to double the size and economic impact of the city centre, and propose projects including the upgrade to Leeds Station, the road network, public spaces, the waterfront, culture and other areas.
The Executive Board will tomorrow be asked to consider and give approval for the council to take steps to de-risk the delivery of the park to help ensure delivery of the majority of the park prior to 2023. “This is with view of ensuring the viable delivery of a park that is operated and maintained seamlessly as one integrated civic space, ” the council added.
