Feature Alan Bennett joins debate over Royal Park School
The famous Leeds playwright gets behind boycotting of plans for student flats
Feature: Alan Bennett joins debate over Royal Park School
For 6 years now, Royal Park School in Hyde Park has stood empty and dilapidated. It’s yet another eyesore for Leeds, a city subject to constant lobbying for the regeneration of countless sites. Like so many of these blots on Leeds’ landscape, the building has the potential to be so much more.
It sits at the bottom of Royal Park Road, the main road which leads immediately to the heart of Hyde Park from Leeds University and the city centre. Visible from the former school, and less than a 2 minute walk away on the adjoining Queens Road, are the Royal Park pub, Hyde Park Picture House, middle-eastern restaurant Baraka and several popular takeaways. Also right on the bus route for the 56 to and from Leeds, it is an overt embarrassment which is impossible not to notice.
Everyone was against the school ever ceasing operations in the first place; the decision lay solely with Education Leeds and was met with fierce opposition. Many have debated since its closure over what should be done with the structure; as well as the most popular option of a community centre, companies have attempted to buy it to create a faith school and a nursery. Both of the latter bids did intend to also incorporate community and recreation facilities. Now, the most real threat to date exists in the plans to turn the space into student flats.
Understandably, locals of Leeds feel very passionately about stopping this kind of generic and predictable renovation of a historic building. It would mean a further increased saturation of students for an area whose permanent residents have already seen their hometown taken over by the transient but constant young dwellers. The feeling is that a community centre would be a place where anyone was welcome and which would be properly cared for and maintained. It would serve to unite the public rather than alienate non-students, and promote recreation rather than create profit.
Last November a group of locals, fed up with watching Royal Park School deteriorate, got together to ‘claim it back’ for a huge clean-up operation. Music was performed and a jumble sale was put on to raise funds for the project. However, the council were granted a possession order and evicted the campaigners quietly, stating that it wasn’t safe. Their real motives for acquiring the site are dubious though, as it has emerged that they are in support of the plans for student flats.
This week, two protests have been held outside both the school and the Rose Bowl in the city centre, aiming to maximise exposure of the cause across Leeds. Even the students of the area have joined with the local residents to show their support, stating that there is already plenty of empty housing in Hyde Park which could accommodate new students. The desire for a community space is one which is held by everyone.
Now, the official team of crusaders for the Royal Park School’s future have had a boost from a highly venerable figure. Leeds playwright Alan Bennett, who recalls the Hyde Park area from his childhood in his autobiography, has written to the Royal Park Community Consortium voicing his encouragement for their cause. The RPCC’s plans for the building, should it be allowed back to the public and not sold to an outside developer, includes craft workshops, a crèche, studio space, a community market, café and gym.
It is hoped that the news of Bennett’s involvement in the issue will have given a last-minute advantage to the public side at its most crucial time. Today, the council are meeting at Leeds Civic Hall to discuss the fate of the former school, and fingers are tightly crossed that they will decide in favour of the local community.
http://www.royalparkcommunity.info/
http://www.royalparkschool.org/
Posted on Wednesday 10th March 2010
Rebecca Ryder
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