News

Appeal lodged for residential scheme at Scholes

News / 3 March 2015

GMI Developments and Barratt David Wilson homes have lodged an appeal for their proposed residential development of 650 houses in Scholes.

There is an urgent need for new houses in Leeds.  This is clear from national planning policy which aims to significantly boost the supply of housing, and the recently adopted Leeds Core Strategy which confirms the need to provide circa 70,0000 new homes between now and 2028, 5,000 of which will be in the Outer North East area which includes Scholes.

We believe our scheme at Scholes is essential in order to help meet this clear demand and that is why we have now lodged a planning appeal.  The proposed site in Scholes was taken out of the Green Belt over 13 years ago to provide land for longer-term development and the time is now right for it to come forward.

Since the planning application was first submitted, we have introduced positive changes to our proposals in response to feedback from the Local Authority and local residents.  The development would now deliver up to 650 new houses including 100 affordable homes, major improvements to public transport provision, a new public park and other green area and recreational facilities, and a significant amount of money towards the expansion and improvement of the local primary school.

We will not be appealing the refusal of the other small Scholes West site, but instead offering this land to Leeds City Council Education Department to enable the existing school to be extended.  This combined with the new homes, an overall investment of £77m, the creation of over 200 new jobs and £6.8m in New Homes Bonus payments for Leeds City Council, demonstrates how important our proposals are for Leeds.

If the appeal is successful, Leeds City Council will not have to release as much Green Belt land for housing in its emerging Site Allocations Document which is due out for public consultation later this year.