Leeds Brownfield Sites Receive Planning Approval
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Leeds Brownfield Sites Receive Planning Approval

Published on 7 April 2017

Detailed planning applications for almost 1000 new homes across eight council-owned sites in Seacroft, Halton Moor and Osmondthorpe have been approved by Leeds City Council. Phased construction will take place over the next 10 years.

Image of the Gatehouse on York Road

The developments form part of the city council’s Brownfield Land Programme, working with development partners Keepmoat and Ignite, and span three neighbourhoods to the east of the centre; Seacroft, Halton Moor and Osmandthorpe. The 13 sites were formed through the clearance of housing and non-residential land uses.  Each site presented the design team with specific challenges including steep slopes, existing utilities infrastructure, movement routes and the requirement to incorporate SUDS and surface water detention capacity.  Design development followed an interactive process involving a multi-disciplinary Design Team, led by JTP and comprising, Fairhursts, Eastwood and Partners, iD Civils, ARUP and PDP, together with the technical divisions of Keepmoat and Ignite.

A holistic approach to masterplanning the sites within their wider context offered the opportunity to broaden and rebalance housing choice within individual neighbourhoods while delivering a range of new public open spaces and pedestrian and cycle connections between local destinations such as schools, shops and parks. The regeneration process aims to enhance the sense of place, foster a greater sense of ownership and through this encourage wider use of the local area’s wealth of amenities and open spaces.

The schemes will provide much-needed, quality affordable homes and offer purchasing initiatives such as Help to Buy. They will also create work opportunities, including apprenticeships and training placements to address skills shortages and ensure that local people will get the maximum benefit of the investment in these areas.

York Road Masterplan

At the York Road site in Seacroft, fragments of the neighbourhood’s history have been woven into the evolving proposals for this high profile location, providing a meaningful context for the retention of a single story masonry gatehouse which is the last remnant of Seacroft Hall, a grandiose mansion which occupied the site for over four centuries. 

Family housing of an appropriate scale provides a strong, defined edge to this important local site which lies immediately to the north of Seacroft Hall. Elsewhere retained trees will be carefully integrated into public or private spaces to create an immediate sense of maturity and permanence to the new place.

Cartmell Drive