Councillors throw out call to build at school site

Leeds Council went against the advice of planning officers – who said that Leeds Girls' High School should be turned into apartments – after receiving 1,000 letters of objection from local residents.

The site in Headingley has been vacant since the girls' school merged with Leeds Grammar School and moved to Alwoodley. The merged school was seeking permission to convert and extend the main school building and create 59 apartments and 51 townhouses.

Objectors have fought a long campaign against the proposals, with many saying that the loss of playing fields as a result of the new buildings would be unnacceptable.

Planners met yesterday to vote on the future of the site and came to the same conclusion. They agreed with groups such as Leeds Civic Trust and The Victorian Society, which argued that the plans would have led to the site becoming "over developed" and that the proposed houses and gardens would have been too small.

Authority members for the ward welcomed the decision to reject the plans. Coun Martin Hamilton said: "I am delighted that these planning applications have been refused.

"The community rejected any building on playing pitches more than two years ago. In my view, it is absolutely right that the plans panel have now come to the same view."

Coun James Monaghan added: "This shows what a community can achieve when it works together. Leeds Girls' High School will now have to go back to the drawing board in the knowledge that they cannot ignore community concerns again."