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 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.

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.

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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.