West Park Centre, one year later

This proposed demolition of West Park Centre and the continued homelessness of Leeds top amateur orchestras and chorus, and Special Needs music charities, if nothing else, could damage Leeds and Leeds Council's reputation as a thriving city. After all it's not just about commerce and shopping.

They have exaggerated the state of the building out of all proportion, and it remains the best sized and best placed building with the most facilities.









That it is the only arts centre of its kind in Leeds, and being inclusive [from top quality players to cutting edge special needs music education] makes the hostility of the powers-that-be
baffling. 

We have put in our complaint to the Ombudsman, and are daily expecting their judgment. However, it took the Council less time to condemn the building, than the Ombudsman has taken to respond. Looks like the latter has put some thought into it, whereas . . . Well, we hope that it's worth the wait.

Or perhaps it is all about the shopping. 

 

Thanks to Jonathon Brown for this article on Tuesday 3 September 2013

Axe blow that left Leeds centre’s charities reeling in shock

The West Park Centre.

03 September 2013

Nine months after the dramatic closure of a hub for arts groups and charities in north west Leeds, the search for answers continues as the aftershocks of its loss are felt. Jonathan Brown reports.

As demolition looms over a once buzzing centre for the arts, questions still remain over the controversial closure of the West Park Centre.
After it closed as West Park County Secondary School in 1989, the building became an unorthodox but fitting home to dozens of Leeds’s most creative and artistic groups and charities.
Thousands of the city’s most talented groups have roots there and it provided a base for the likes of Opera North and the Northern Ballet.
Years of rumours of impending closure and numerous campaigns had kept it open until it was hastily closed in November because of electrical problems.
Yet, the following day, a party attended by the then Lord Mayor of Leeds, Coun Ann Castle, was held at the site.
The swift closure, which was carried out within 24 hours of officers being alerted to the building’s safety, left several arts groups and charities effectively homeless.
Nine months on, the Yorkshire Association for Music and Special Educational Needs (YAMSEN) is just one of a group of organisations without a place to call home and deliver services.
Diane Paterson, secretary of YAMSEN, a charity that supports music groups for disabled adults and children, said: “It’s been devastating.
“We won’t let things stop, we have carried on as that’s the nature of the group of people we have here.
“When somebody does that to you and pulls the plug on you – you can’t plan for that.
“None of the charities are the sort of people that will be put off by this, they are just working ten times as hard and getting more stressed.”
Its thousands of users come from all over the region to use the 34-year-old charity’s specialist equipment – much of which is now inaccessible and based in storage units and schools across the city.
YAMSEN spent thousands of pounds of grant money on an Indonesian gamelan instrument, which was handmade in Java, to help with sensory sessions in 2008, while they installed an advanced sound and light room at the West Park Centre. Both have ended up dismantled in storage as a result of the closure.
Victoria Jaquiss, vice chair at YAMSEN, said: “I think it makes Leeds look stupid, we have a big new arena so we are catering for the top end but we do not cater for the people that have given their evenings away for free.”
Elsewhere Fiona Kirkby, choir coordinator at the celebrated 150-piece Leeds Festival Chorus, says the group was left homeless three weeks before it was due to perform in the council-organised Leeds International Concert Season.
Now based at St Chad’s Parish Church, in Headingley, the choir is having to cope without the space it needs.
Fiona, who has worked with the choir for 30 years, said: “We are resourceful people so we will try and keep on going but we are facing uncertain times.”
Groups based at the centre were initially told it would close temporarily for four months, while the associated costs and work to bring it back into use were assessed.
In January councillors were told that emergency work on the West Park Centre’s electrical and hot and cold water systems, would cost more than £930,000.
Lorraine Cowburn is a musician and project manager with the Musical Arc charity, which was moved to Meanwood Community Centre within four days of the West Park Centre’s closure.
Following the outcry surrounding its closure, the circumstances and processes behind it will be discussed by the council’s sustainable economy and culture scrutiny board on September 17.
Lorraine, who plans to attend the meeting, said: “It’s like rehousing a family in different houses, it doesn’t work and that community of people that formed the West Park Centre happened by accident over the years. It ended up being an arts centre and that’s what’s been lost.”
The council’s executive board agreed to demolish the centre in July, having agreed to release £800,000 from the sale of the land to build a new community centre or invest in existing buildings to aid some of the centre’s former users if needed.
No date for the West Park Centre’s demolition has yet been set.
It is thought the land is worth around £2m and it is suggested it could be developed for housing or a free school, though further assurances are being sought over the council’s plans to continue to help former users.
Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland said: “The West Park Centre has been a popular and vital cultural and community hub for many years and it is simply not acceptable that this important role comes to an end, especially when there simply are not adequate replacement facilities for the organisations who used the centre or the local community.”
Coun Judith Chapman (Lib Dem, Weetwood) described the closure of the centre as the “end of an era”. She said: “It’s putting a bit of strain on all the area’s other venues.
“People have lost this facility which is a terrible shame and also it was used for community purposes as well and that has gone.”
Various charities and organisations formerly based at the centre are working from home, halls, community centres and scout huts.
A council spokeswoman said: “We have already ensured that the great majority of groups have been re-located to other locations and we will be working with any other groups that used the centre to help them find new permanent locations.”
The spokeswoman added: “A great deal of work has taken place since the West Park Centre was closed in November to determine the best option for the site and the centre. We have listened to a wide range of views and considered all possible options.”

Shambles that will now see centre shut its doors for good

YEP Says (August 7): Shambles that will now see centre shut its doors for good

l

 

Published 07/08/2013 10:16

 

 

 

Those connected with the West Park Centre have every right to feel aggrieved by the manner of its passing.

The outcome they have feared since its sudden closure last November has now been confirmed with the council’s executive board rejecting calls for the decision to be subjected to further scrutiny.
It means the community centre, one of the busiest in Leeds, will now be demolished. The official reason is that the cost of carrying out necessary repairs had become too costly.
Campaigners, however, point to the fact that the site was listed as one of several to be sold off for housing by the council as far back as 2009.
It was subsequently taken off that list, but users say that Education Leeds’s gradual withdrawal of classes from the building created a financial problem from which it has never recovered.
Though the council insists that the decision to bulldoze the West Park Centre was simply down to the unaffordable cost of maintenance, others remain unconvinced.
While £800,000 from the sale of the land has been promised as a contribution to building a replacement, some may think campaigners are entitled to be cynical about how the centre’s fate was sealed.
It is certainly hard to disagree with Weetwood councillor Judith Chapman when she says the council’s handling of this saga has been “utterly shambolic”.

  Thanks to Laura Bowyer of the Yorkshire Evening Post for this article in August.

     

 

‘Controversial’ centre set for wrecking ball

West Park Centre, Leeds

Published 07/08/2013 06:01

CAMPAIGNERS HAVE failed to save a community centre dubbed “the jewel in Leeds’ crown” from the wrecking ball.

Members of Leeds City Council’s executive board agreed to demolish the West Park Centre last month.
They agreed to release £800,000 from the sale of the land to build a new community facility or invest in existing buildings.
Campaigners called for the decision to be scrutinised by the council’s sustainable economy and culture scrutiny board.
Despite hearing from residents and councillors opposing demolition, the panel agreed to release the decision - meaning the building will be demolished.
Councillor Judith Chapman (Lib Dem, Weetwood) said following the meeting: “I’m deeply disappointed that despite the impassioned pleased of residents and West Park Centre users, board members agreed to proceed with demolition.
“The council’s handling of this whole sorry saga has been utterly shambolic from the start.”
The centre’s closure hit the headlines last year after it was closed in November because of ‘hazardous’ electrics.
Yet, the following day, a party attended by the then Lord Mayor of Leeds, councillor Ann Castle, was held at the site.
Campaigner Victoria Jaquiss said it was “a jewel in Leeds’ crown” and it had been home to various groups including YAMSEN, a charity that supports music groups for disabled adults and children.
Martin Farrington, director of development, said: “Members of the executive board determined they wouldn’t support the level of investment required to bring the building back into use.
“We acknowledge West Park Centre is a very valued facility.”
A inquiry will be held in November examining the decision to demolish the centre.

Some things that the Leeds Council Executive Board Should Know

Dear Executive Board

cc YEP, Radio Leeds, Look North

 

 

We have read the documents that precede this final piece of advice from Corporate Services/ Asset Management. We were pleased to see most of arguments acknowledged, but surprised that the natural conclusion was lost in their recommendation. Our argument, at the West Park campaign Group is not with the council, but with the unelected officials who recommend demolition.

If you vote for this . . . 

 

You know that all Leeds top orchestras and choruses won't be able to practise sectionals, and that the high quality of their music will be compromised. You know that the leader of Leeds Symphony Orchestra personally checked out over 35 alternatives venues, and found nowhere else suitable.

 

You know that, at the last big YAMSEN event, teenagers in wheelchairs had to have their hygiene pads changed [behind screens] in the bar area at St Chads - where's the dignity in that?

 

You know that storage and parking and location are not equalled anywhere else in Leeds.

 

You should know that Leeds Youth Opera, having nowhere anymore to store their wonderful costumes has given them away.

 

You know that YAMSEN:SpeciallyMusic still has no base. 

You may know that two of the YAMSEN committee [myself and D Paterson] have been awarded the fellowship of the Royal Society of the Arts for our contribution to education, and especially education for children with disabilities or with challenging behaviour, and/or live in challenging circumstances. Which I hope informs you as to the high standards and quality of our work.

 

You should know that our meetings with councillors were brief to the point of pointless.

 

You know that none of people making this life or death decision has come to watch the orchestras practise in the "temporary" rehearsal spaces, or to watch the adults with disabilities take part in  their workshops in the West Park Church.

 

You probably only know how bad the West Park electrics are and how expensive to run decent performance and rehearsal spaces are.

 

Corporate Services seem to see a carpark that fits a whole fleet of SEN adapted minibuses or 100 orchestral players as some sort of thwarted housing estate.

 

You know that both keeping the building empty [and the same for Royal Park] and demolition cost money.

 

You know that most ex-users would like to return, and new-users wait in the wings.

 

You should know that those who recommend demolition seem to have no understanding of the needs of the Arts, and for the Arts, and of the Arts for those with Additional Needs. 

And you should know that all local councillors understand the value of the West Park Centre, and have publicly supported its continued existence. 

Lastly, you should know that there may well be many displaced council employees who are unhappy with the situation but, who, because they are council employees cannot comment.  

It is time that the decision-makers met fully with the ex-users, properly debated all the options, and got the main hall etc up and running again as soon as possible, having thoroughly replaced all the electrics.  And I hope that tomorrow the executive board throws out this bizarre response to a massive need for the West Park Centre to re-open.

 

Victoria Jaquiss FRSA [YAMSEN Committee member -vice chair]

West Park Centre Housing the "Arty Elite"

Published on the 21 June
2013
12:50 Published 21/06/2013 12:50

 

Delay can only make a decision more painful
The question of West Park Centre in Leeds is undoubtedly a thorny one. The centre, a former school, has for some years had a new life as a base for arts and community groups. Now the recommendations are that it needs to be either renovated or demolished.
There are those who are vocal in its support, and there are those who say that is the problem.
Supporters of its demolition say it is a building used only by the arty elite and renovation would not be justified. Either way, a decision needs to be made, so its withdrawal from the agenda at a meeting of Leeds City Council executive board is only making the process more painful.

                                                *                *                        *

I like this Comment in YEP last week. This was the first time in all of this hoo-haa that anyone had publicly recognised the immense value that the West Park Centre was to the Arts in Leeds. In this humble, inauspicious flat roofed little 1950s ex-school, Leeds Symphony Orchestra, Leeds Festival Chorus and Leeds Youth Opera [and the rest] found their perfect permanent home. And here, others like Northern Ballet found a good temporary home, until something swankier [and, oh dear, a lot more expensive] came along.

Seven months later, no Council officers have come up with anything better. Leeds Symphony Orchestra leader, Martin B, checked out 39 possible venues very early on in these past seven months, and guess what?  Nothing compares.

What happens when Classic FM comes to Leeds again next year and says, "Could you do this?" and Fiona K, ic Leeds Festival Chorus, answers, "Well, we don't have the rehearsal space anymore? What happens then, then?

Does Leeds become a cultural desert, mocked by the other northern towns because it can't look after its principal orchestras and choirs in the manner to which they had become accustomed? And they wasn't asking for something posh in the city centre. The West Park Centre did, and it did very well.
 

Council Should re-open West Park Centre, not Demolish it

Letter: Council should reopen West Park Centre, not demolish it

Published on the 18 June
2013
13:52

Published 18/06/2013 13:52

1 comments

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On Wednesday, Leeds City Council’s Executive Board will consider a recommendation that the West Park Centre is demolished.

In November 2012, this extremely popular and well-used building was unilaterally closed by the council’s Asset Management team – without warning, and without consultation.
There was no suggestion that it was surplus to requirements – even their scandalously one-sided ‘options appraisal’ (a disingenuous, misleading piece of work that does those who concocted it no credit whatsoever) acknowledges this.
Whilst there are no serious plans to replace West Park, it should be treated as a going concern.
Meanwhile, the closure continues to cause disruption and devastation to some of the most vulnerable people in the city.
It has been suggested that the building’s many users could simply be rehoused elsewhere.
If this is the case – show me the building that would provide perfect rehearsal, performance, office and storage space for the schools’ music service (a service, incidentally, that is one of the jewels in Leeds’s crown, judged outstanding by the Federation of Music Services – how much of that could be attributed to the excellent facilities it has long enjoyed at West Park?).
A building that can accommodate, at a peppercorn rent, organisations like Irish Arts, Blah Blah Blah, Paperbirds, Leeds Youth Opera – all of which contribute immeasurably to the cultural life of the city; and charities like YAMSEN and Musical Arc that provide a unique service to vulnerable children and adults.
A building with two huge gymnasia available to a huge range of sports and fitness groups, as well as being the home of the schools’ PE and Sports team.
We have that building – it’s called West Park.
The council should take note of the overwhelming tide of opinion, and make the right decision – to reopen West Park as soon as possible.
M Warwick, LS16

In Yorkshire Evening Post today

Deputation to Council

What’s the Point of the West Park Centre?

An Unintended City-wide Arts Centre

My Lord Mayor and Fellow Councillors

Even though you are not discussing it today, I would to thank you for giving me the opportunity to present the case for getting the West Park Centre up and running again as soon as possible. I am speaking only on behalf of the charities and community groups.

I’d like to make 5 points:

1. On November 5^th 2012 100 or so of us turned up as usual for work there only to be called into an extra-ordinary meeting.  Here, in the main hall we were told that the Centre’s electrics had been condemned, and we were to pack enough equipment to last 2 months, and leave. The Council groups were immediately given a previously mothballed room in Merrion House.

Then we were asked to pack everything ; pack 20 years worth of bags, filing cabinets, gamelan, resonance boards, cupboardfuls of costumes, and we were given 3 days to do it in. Then we got 3 weeks.

And we were 30 plus displaced organisations amounting to 2000 or so regular users, including of course all the council services and then all the charities, who had bumped along in harmony with each other for decades, and now, who hardly or never meet at all.

It’s fair to say that we were taken aback the manner of the “temporary closure” – One minute the electrics needed fixing; the next minute there was a consultation on the building’s future. Not only were we asked to leave with nowhere, or nowhere suitable to go, but six months later we are still operating from our garages and spare rooms.

2.Numbers and types of people affected, We feel that the numbers of users, and how much the centre was in demand was under-estimated. The last report talks about underuse, not so. The place was buzzing from morning till late evening. What was lovely about West Park, and what made it so special was the combinations of arts and sports, education and leisure, adults and children, disabled and able-bodied. Groups included the Travellers Education Service, children and adults with Special/Additional Needs, unions, self-help groups eg gamblers etc anonymous.  And all day Sunday, every Sunday the Church filled it. Many groups of vulnerable people, And all surrounding the wonderful foyer for all the serependitious meetings.

3.The practical building design – At the end of three spurs,, and in the middle - four good performance spaces [the former gyms, the Rehearsal Room, studio and the Main Hall] the main hall’s acoustics are good, in fact they were recently improved. Many, many toilets, including disabled adapted. YAMSEN:SpeciallyMusic and ArtForms Music Service installed multi sensory classroom. [result of ten years planning taken down in a morning] Exceptional and absolutely vital storage – PE equipment, the orchestra’s shared instruments, the Opera’s costume cupboards. Carpark to fit a 100 piece orchestra or a fleet of minibuses for the disabled, with disabled access.

4.West Park serves as a base for city-wide and regional work, a happy accident, but its geography, near Leeds ringroad, on best bus routes [1, 56, 96], Players come from as far away as Scarborough for the orchestras, and from Sheffield for YAMSEN. Has open aspect surrounded by open spaces and playing fields, gives an extra feeling of security, convenient for shops.

5.West Park the Accidental Inclusive Arts Centre didn’t start as a plan. It just grew.– 25 years plus in the making, groups developing links. The Music Service and the Music charities worked together; Northern ballet sent 2 dancers to the YAMSEN singalong; Orchestras shared timpani;  Etc.

The council petition that we ran collected over 500 signatures in the 2 weeks that it was live. There are organisations still unplaced or not satisfactorily placed. There are children and adults with Special Needs who are missing their regular rehearsals; there are orchestras missing the hall, the space, the storage – all the reasons they chose West Park in the first place.

Victoria and Mavis waiting to be called into the Council Chamber

I am here on behalf all the groups, and on behalf of people who can’t speak for themselves. We need the £170,000 or whatever it takes spending on the electrics, and we need to get back into the building, which, until this year, never suffered from the regular petty vandalism that is beginning to appear.

The important thing is for the basic repairs to be done in order to enable us to get back into the West Park Centre, and then we can start to plan for the future and then have the debate whether to be a CIC, or remain inside the council.

Without West Park, Business as Usual, but at What and at Whose Cost?

Here's a letter from Mary to the Council:

As a member of the Leeds Symphony Orchestra, and a teacher for ArtForms, 
the last few months have been extremely difficult. As far as the 
orchestra is concerned, we have temporary, but inappropriate rehearsal 
space at a local church. There is a problem with storage of our 
equipment. It is very cold, and has poor acoustics for rehearsing. Some 
councillors might like to think we are happily sorted but this is not 
the case. Our conductor, Martin Binks has spent days of his time looking 
at alternative venues - schools, church halls etc, and nothing has 
emerged. West Park Centre fulfilled all our requirements. I know this is 
the situation for many other community groups who used the premises.

As far as ArtForms is concerned, my work in schools has continued okay, 
though the dislocation of the individual teachers from each other, and 
the admin staff  makes life difficult and has had a demoralising effect 
on all of us, even though, as professionals, we are of course delivering 
business as usual. I'm sure you can understand that to have no base or 
centre makes us feel it is much harder to feel we belong as a group. i 
strongly hope that this is not your intention.

On behalf of other ArtForms' departments, the logistics of instrument 
storage, loading, parking, running numerous groups off-site, trying to 
run development days for pupils, training days for staff, the music 
technology studio ,and the Gordon Parry Centre for pupils with special 
needs- all these things have been incredibly difficult and have affected 
teachers and pupils alike.

i will leave this here, but urge you to consider again, the decision to 
close the centre. iIt is unique, and surely the cost of refurbishment 
would not be more than the other options you are considering.

Yours faithfullly,

Mary P ARCM, GRSM ,PGCE,   Artforms teacher/ principal clarinet 
player- leeds Symphony Orchestra