PLANS for a landmark pavilion that will help retain Test cricket at Headingley have won the backing of councillors.
The ground's existing winter shed and media centre will be demolished to make way for the five-storey pavilion, which will have a distinctive design featuring green triangular panels.
Under the proposals put forward by Yorkshire County Cricket Clu
b and Leeds Metropolitan University the pavilion will include offices, university teaching space, changing rooms, hospitality suites, spectator seating, a new media centre and landscaping and car parking off St Michaels Lane.
Demolition work is to get under way this autumn and the club hopes the new pavilion will be completed by early 2010.
Leeds City Council's west plans panel agreed officers could grant approval once a number of details including the provision of sports fields to replace a tarmac pitch needed for the development have been resolved.
A report to the panel acknowledged the pavilion was a "large building of challenging design" which would impact on neighbours but added it would make a positive contribution to Headingley.
But Miss Dale Ellis, whose home in Kirkstall Lane will be in the shadow of the development, urged councillors to consider the needs of Headingley's long-term residents.
She said: "This will reduce our quality of life. It is irresponsible to increase traffic in the area when it is already gridlocked."
The report said the applicant were prepared to pay for a range of transport and highway improvements and Sue Holmes, Leeds Metropolitan University's head of estates said the pavilion had been thoughtfully designed.
Councillor Jamie Matthews (Lib Dem, Headingley) said when he first saw the proposed design he thought martians had landed on Headingley but it had since grown on him.
The full article contains 296 words and appears in EP Leeds First & County newspaper.
