Councillors are poised to approve the club's plan to demolish Headingley's historic Wintershed and replace it with a landmark five-storey building to be shared with Leeds Metropolitan University.

The proposed pavilion, to be considered by Leeds Council's planning panel next Thursday, would include a new media centre, hospitality facilities and university teaching rooms.

Councillors had been due to vote on the scheme earlier this month, but the club was granted a short delay to finalise the plans.

A planning report prepared ahead of next week's meeting describes the proposed pavilion as a "large building of challenging design" that will "impact on neighbours".

But planning officers believe the scheme should be supported because it will "deliver an important building making a statement for Headingley, for the university, the cricket club and the city in the international context in which it will be seen".

Practice nets and playing pitches near the Leeds Rhinos rugby ground would make way for a car park as part of the project.

The club will be asked to pay for replacement facilities, and improvements to existing sports areas in West Park and Becketts Park are being considered.

Those proposals are unpopular with local councillors, however, who believe the new facilities should be provided within the Headingley area.

Liberal Democrat councillors James Monaghan and Martin Hamilton have suggested that the money be used to save playing pitches at the Leeds Girls' High School site.

There are plans to build houses on the playing fields, which have become surplus to requirements following Leeds Girls' High's merger with the Grammar School, Leeds.