Council delays passing verdict on Royal Park School site

Leeds City Council has postponed their decision.

By Eva Bearryman

Leeds City Council has postponed their decision on the Royal Park School building.
    The Council has deferred its decision on what will happen to the Royal Park School building until further discussion with a local group which wants to renovate the building into a community centre.

  The Royal Park Community Consortium (RPCC) wants to see the closed school renovated into a community centre and put forward a bid detailing their proposal in March. Two other proposals have also been put forward from unnamed private investors however.
    The RPCC sought to bring as much attention to their cause as possible by staging two separate protests in the run-up to a council executive board meeting, which was to vote on which of three proposals to support.
    On Monday March 8, the RPCC and those sympathetic to the cause protested outside the school building in Hyde Park.  
    A further protest was held on Wednesday outside the Civic Hall in which the group protested with pots and pans in an attempt to get their voices heard by the councillors meeting inside. Their efforts were rewarded as the council postponed its decision on the Royal Park School and the issue was removed from the meeting’s agenda.
    Charlotte Coleman of the RPCC was delighted that the council was open to further discussion: “This gives us more time to talk to the council and to the large number of funding and voluntary organisations involved.”
    RPCC’s plans for a community area in the school building include ideas such as developing studio space, a cafe, a community workshop and a gym, among many other facilities for local residents.
    The RPCC’s bid was initially rejected on the basis of insufficient funding. Organisers are pleased at the deferral of the council’s decision as it gives them more time to get together the financial support needed to convince the council to back their bid.     The group fear the building will otherwise be sold to a private company planning to build more flats.
    The campaign to save the school as a community centre is supported by several local councillors including John Illingworth and Gerry Harper, the Labour councillor for Hyde Park and Woodhouse.
    Harper was pleased with the result of the meeting. HE commented: “This is great news for the RPCC as it gives them more time to put together a stronger bid.
    “But it may be that the reason the council has postponed its decision is because it is worried what effect a negative decision would have on the local elections this May.”
    Initial recommendations to the council that the building should accept the proposal from a private company had sparked high criticism among the community. Javaid Akhtar, from the GMB union who are fully in support of the RPCC’S campaign, represented the views of many locally when he said: “The Council needs to listen to the local community. I believe there are more than enough student flats in Leeds.”
     A local mother, Adele Beeson, whose children went to the school up until its closure is angry that she has since been unable to find a school which can meet the needs of her autistic son, she said: “To lose the building as a community centre is an insult to the community.”
    The issue may be discussed at an executive board meeting in April. Alternatively, the Council may wait until late May after the general election as it is likely they will want to avoid any possible negative repercussions of decisions made around this time.
    The derelict school, located in the heart of the Hyde Park community, has been at the centre of the RPCC’s impressive campaign. If the building is ever successfully renovated into a community centre it will be a testament to the dedication of local campaigners who are representative of the strong community spirit in the local area.