'Restore Leeds landmark YEP clocktower to its former glory' - council leader backs refurbishment calls
The Leader of Leeds City Council has backed calls to clean up one of Leeds’ most famous landmarks which has fallen into a state of disrepair.
The Yorkshire Evening Post clock tower head has increasingly deteriorated in recent years as the site where it is located has been awaiting a £400m redevelopment.
The YEP and sister title The Yorkshire Post no longer have any control over the tower or the Wellington Street plot following its sale after they moved to new offices in 2012.
Earlier this week we joined forces calling for urgent improvements to be made for the good of Leeds.
Before winning planning permission in 2023 for three tower blocks, developers had indicated the top of the structure would be “removed and stored/refurbished” if their application was approved.
But new pictures show how the clock tower head, which is passed by countless people travelling through Leeds on a daily basis, has substantially deteriorated with a combination of lichen, dirt, rust, a missing corner panel and fallen-off letters visible.
Coun James Lewis, leader of Leeds City Council, told the YEP: "The clocktower is a huge part of the city's heritage and is seen everyday by people travelling through.
“It's a true Leeds landmark and it would be great to see it retained and restored to its former glory."
The clock tower was retained when the rest of the former newspaper offices were knocked down in 2014.
While some of the wider office site has since been redeveloped to include an apartment building called The Headline, other plans have yet to come to fruition.
Developer Urbanite, which is backed by private equity firm Prescient, got planning permission to build multi-storey student flats in September 2023. The scheme is based on one 42-storey tower and one 32-storey tower for students, with a further 25-storey building offering build to rent apartments.
The £400m scheme was approved on the basis that the existing clock tower structure would be demolished but the top section with the newspaper branding would be “relocated and reimagined within the proposed public realm as a new public art feature”. It was suggested it could be added onto a newly-created wind mitigation column on the site.
But wider work is yet to begin on the site, with planning permission due to expire in September if it does not do so in the coming months.
A full strategy for re-using the tower head clock - which was a condition of planning permission - has yet been lodged with the council.
A section of the land not including the clock tower was sold earlier this year to a different firm called Bluecastle Capital.
Bluecastle purchased the section of land which has planning permission for the 25-storey building offering build to rent apartments from Prescient Capital.
The landmark, which is passed by countless people in Leeds each day, has been described as an “iconic” part of the city by YEP readers.
Asked for their verdict on what should be done, they have delivered a resounding call to return it to its former glory.