Aire View Infant School, Silsden
Application to demolish a school in Silsden for housing:
23 town houses will replace this school building. The layout of the new houses reflects the rows of terraces surrounding the site which is a positive. However it is an outline application so this could change and the final development may be the usual group of 5-bedroom mini mansions.
The building is considered to be a non-designated heritage asset by the council. However the developer states they have explored retention and conversion and that it does not add up financially. These Victorian schools are being lost at an alarming rate, and it would be nice if some were retained and reused in a more sympathetic way.
Bridge Street Pentecostal Church, Leeds
Former church in the city centre to be demolished as part of wider clearance works:
A block of 20th century industrial buildings of various ages in Leeds’ Templar quarter is being demolished, presumably to make way for future development. Amongst them is this small church, referred to as Four Square Gospel Church in mapping from 1940s, and more recently known as Bridge Street Pentecostal Church.
Demolition would be via prior notification, so public objection is not an option. However the permitted development rights for demolition do not extend to buildings last in use ‘as a venue for live music performance’. I seem to remember Pentacostal churches being big on the live music, so this might be a clause that saves this building in the short term.
Great to see the city centre development market thriving, but integrating the last remaining pieces of old Leeds into the new should be a priority.
Armley Conservative Club, Leeds
Planning application to demolish the former Conservative Club in Armley:
Following a suspected arson attack, the Conservative Club and Fairfield House on Armley Moor are subject to a demolition application.
The buildings are in the conservation area, however recommendations from the police to clear them will bolster the applicant’s case to depart from policy and allow this site to be flattened.
I can not find any images of the fire damage, and am unable to visit Leeds, but it is odd to receive input from the emergency services on a planning application.
The loss of Conservative Clubs have been noted in the media. Few remain in the red wall that is the northern industrial belt of towns and cities. But they are an important feature of any place, invoking a time of more cordial politics, in which people of any stripe were welcome through the doors of any given club to engage in discourse. Latterly, these clubs have lost their political cache and function more as community venues and a means of obtaining a cheap pint. Drinkers in Con/Lib/Lab clubs are refreshingly apolitical these days.
The townscape of Armley will miss these buildings, and the story of civic participation they tell.
The Chartist, Skelmanthorpe
Plans to demolish a pub in a conservation area and build 4 houses:
I went to this pub when I was 15 and tried my first donner kebab, which the landlady let us bring in from the takeaway across the road.
Skelmanthorpe used to have 5 pubs, with 1, The Grove, remaining open. The others have since been converted into houses or other commercial uses, but have remained standing. Interestingley Skelmanthorpe has seen a couple of wine bars and cafes open over the last few years which suggests the market for leaving the house occasionally in the evening, is on the rise. So its not the right time to erase a pub from the village.
I have objected, noting that the net benefit to the village would be 2 dwellings (assuming converting the pub could deliver 2 further dwellings). This is not enough benefit to justify demolition of a Victorian building in a conservation area, particularly as there are around 329 houses allocated elsewhere in the village. 2 windfall dwellings are hardly going to change the place. However the loss of a historic pub would.
The Demolition Register 