Leeds City Council has welcomed thousands of responses to a consultation finding locations for new homes across the district.
The consultation was the first important step toward identifying suitable sites for housing, employment and retail use.
During the eight week consultation, from 3 June to 29 July last year, residents were also asked which local green spaces they wanted to see protected.
A massive 7,738 comments were provided by 6,434 individuals. 5,970 responses were about housing with 441 regarding green spaces and 166 around employment.
The site allocations report is publicly available at www.leeds.gov.uk/siteallocations along with detailed maps of areas being considered.
Councillor Peter Gruen Leeds City Council executive board member with responsibility for neighbourhoods, planning and support services said:
“The number of consultation responses should be welcomed. The numbers received show the process has real credibility and people were energised to take part. We recognise that housing is far and away the most important topic to people. We’ll now move to analyse the consultation responses in detail to get an understanding of what people would like to see.
“The high number of consultation respondents was down to its promotion in a variety of different formats, which reached a high number of residents.”
“We want to work with communities so together we find the best possible sites for new development. We will work with them during this consultation period and beyond to agree local solutions for sustainable development that respects local views.
This was the first stage of the Site Allocations Plan and the council consulted on a range of options rather than proposals.
The council will consider all responses to help determine how sites progress to the next stage – a publication plan. This will be consulted on in the New Year and all residents who responded will be kept informed as the plan progress.
The Site Allocation Plan will form part of a 15 year development for the whole of Leeds. It is planning for anticipated population changes and homes, jobs, education and investment needed across the city alongside ambitions for regeneration growth and infrastructure.
