CAMPAIGNERS who fought to save greenbelt sites in Yeadon and Guiseley have welcomed news that the land is set to be saved from development.

Leeds City Council is considering proposals to remove 37 areas of green belt - including four in Aireborough - from its Site Allocations Plan. If its plans are agreed by the executive board later this month the council will then hold a six-week public consultation process, beginning in January, with a view to retaining the sites as greenbelt.

The move follows a legal challenge brought by Aireborough Neighbourhood Development Forum.

Today forum chairwoman Jennifer Kirkby said: "We are amazed, but pleased with this recommendation, it is time to end eight years of battling and to work with Leeds more closely on the Neighbourhood Plan – as we have always tried very hard to do."

The four sites in Aireborough are Ings Lane, Wills Gill, Hollins Hill, Guiseley and Victoria Avenue, Yeadon. The council proposals also mean that Coach Road, Nether Yeadon, Banksfield, and other Rawdon sites will not be under imminent scrutiny for possible development.

Writing on the forum's website Ms Kirkby said: "Following a review of housing land, LCC say that they have 6.8 years supply and a district wide surplus of 11,000 housing units up to 2028. There is thus no exceptional circumstances to change the Green Belt boundary, which was the foundation of the Judicial Review of the plan we brought to the high court on behalf of the Aireborough community."

She said: "We are pleased with this outcome and agree that it is time to end this long drawn out and complex eight year process. The world had changed and we do need to work together on a more sustainable plan for the future needs of the area. We have fought a long battle for the right of the local community to have their views heard."

Leeds City Council’s Development Plan Panel Chairman, Cllr Neil Walshaw, said: “Removing these Green Belt sites from the SAP will draw a line in the sand and give all parties an opportunity to work together to deliver the high quality housing that people in Leeds deserve.”

“We need to look at the bigger picture when it comes to our housing requirements, taking in employment, transport, climate change and of course our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“This is a positive step as we near the end of a process that has been carried out with a wide range of stakeholders and generated significant public interest.”

A High Court judgment following a legal challenge brought by Aireborough Neighbourhood Forum, in relation to four green belt sites in Guiseley and Yeadon, found that the 37 sites should be temporarily removed from the SAP, pending further examination by the planning inspectors and the Secretary of State.

The council’s new SAP report will be considered by the Development Plan Panel on December 11, while the executive board is due to discuss the proposed public consultation on December 16.

The Leader of the Opposition on Leeds City Council Cllr Andrew Carter, who has been a vocal opponent of greenbelt development in Leeds, said he was delighted that the sites should now be saved.

But he stressed he was concerned that it had got to the stage where a local campaign group had to take the proposals to the High Court before the sites were removed from the Council’s plans.

He said: "This news is clearly welcome and communities throughout Leeds should hopefully see these sites remain in the Greenbelt where they belong. However, you are left to wonder what might have been, the ruling administration very nearly allowed hundreds of acres of greenbelt land to be built on and were it not for the High Court intervention - they would have."