A DEVELOPER is asking for a change of planning permission for historic buildings on the former High Royds site to secure their future.

Approval has already been given for the conversion of the administration block into an 80-bed assisted living complex and to turn former workshops into business units.

But despite marketing the buildings for more than a decade no-one has shown an interest, according to Avant Homes.

Now the company is seeking planning permission to convert the administration block and workshops into 46 residential units and one retail unit and to build 25 new homes.

The company says it has spent £250,000 simply to protect the building from the elements but their attempts have been undermined by thieves.

A submission to Leeds City Council on behalf of the company says: "Since planning and listed building consent was granted back in 2005 for the site as a whole, which included the conversion of the Administration Block for assisted living, and despite active marketing of the aforementioned, there has been no viable operator interest in using the building for the consented use, nor interest in an alternative use of the building either.

"As such, over time, the applicant has spent upwards of £250,000 in ensuring, as far as practically possible, that the building remains wind and water tight. However, despite their best efforts and due, to a large extent, to several thefts that have taken place of roofing materials, water egress has occurred to the detriment of elements of the original fabric of the building. Without a scheme of restoration and reuse for the Administration Block, and despite further financial commitments from the applicant in seeking to maintain the existing quality of the building’s fabric, further physical deterioration is likely."

It adds: "The application proposals will finally secure the long term future of this listed building through its restoration and reuse."

The company says the administration block is a nationally important heritage asset which is in urgent need of a new sustainable use so that its significance can be protected for future generations.

The document to planners argues that the building is threatened by lying vacant.

It adds: "As highlighted previously, despite the best efforts of the applicant to ensure that the building is both wind and water tight, areas of original fabric are in various states of disrepair. Without intervention the current condition will inevitably deteriorate further."

Planning and listed building consent was originally granted in 2005 for a total of 562 homes on the former High Royds Hospital site.