Alderton Heights Moortown: Leeds Council blocks tower block demolition over safety and environmental concerns
Leeds City Council’s planning authority has blocked plans to demolish three ten-storey tower blocks in Moortown, citing concerns over public safety and environmental harm.
The Alderton Heights complex, located on Scotland Wood Road, was earmarked for demolition in 2022 after the council concluded that building new homes would be more cost-effective than refurbishing the ageing structures.
Originally built as council housing in the 1960s, the three blocks have been mothballed over the past three years. Residents displaced by the closure were offered compensation payments of around £7,800 and given priority on the council’s housing waiting list.
However, an application to demolish the 180 flats was refused by the council’s planning committee on Monday (July 21), after members said the proposed method of demolition posed risks to the public and the surrounding environment.
Refusing the plans, the committee wrote: 'The submission has not demonstrated an adequate method of demolition and is therefore likely to lead to a danger to users of the public highway, damage to the public highway, and harm through pollution to the adjacent nature reserve through airborne particulates.
“Furthermore, inadequate information relating to the protected species that are likely to be present using the buildings for nesting and/or roosting has been provided, such that it is not possible to conclude that such species would not be harmed by the proposed works.
“As such the prior approval of the Local Planning Authority is required in relation to these matters and this application is hereby refused in the absence of this information.”