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Leeds Council Debates Housing Targets Amid Market Quarter Works
From Kirkgate's summer closures to a crunch planning debate in the Civic Hall, here is what shaped Leeds across the first days of July.
How we reported this
Leeds City Council confirmed on Wednesday that it had activated its Level 2 Heat-Health Alert protocol across its adult social care services, responding to the same weather system that caused more than 2,000 excess deaths in France during the past fortnight. Temperatures in the city reached 34°C on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Met Office station at Wharfedale, the highest reading for the first week of July since 2019.
The timing matters. Leeds has roughly 113,000 residents aged 65 or over, and the council's own 2025 vulnerability audit identified around 18,000 of them as living alone in poorly insulated pre-1919 terraced housing, concentrated in areas such as Harehills, Beeston and Armley. Under the Level 2 protocol, outreach workers from Leeds City Council's Adults and Health directorate carry out daily welfare calls and, where necessary, doorstep visits.
Kirkgate Market and City Centre Disruption
The heat has compounded an already difficult week for traders at Kirkgate Market. A section of the Grade I-listed Victorian hall's roof ventilation system failed on Monday, forcing the closure of approximately 40 indoor stalls on the Vicar Lane side until engineers from the council's property services team complete repairs. Market management told traders the work was expected to finish by the end of this week, though no fixed date has been given. Kirkgate is home to around 400 traders and draws an estimated 100,000 visitors per week during summer months.
Meanwhile, on New York Street, utility works connected to the wider South Bank regeneration programme entered their fourth week. West Yorkshire Combined Authority infrastructure officials confirmed the works, part of a £37 million utility diversification contract linked to the Leeds Transpennine Route Upgrade, are running roughly eight days behind the original schedule published in April. Diversions remain in place via Crown Point Road, adding to congestion on the approach to Leeds Bridge throughout the morning peak.
The Headrow pedestrianisation trial, which entered its third month in May, is also generating renewed debate. A council transport committee report circulated internally this week and seen by The Daily Leeds put pedestrian footfall on The Headrow at 14 percent higher than the same period in 2024 on weekday afternoons, but found that bus journey times on the parallel route via Great George Street had increased by an average of four minutes during peak hours.
Planning Row Over Seacroft Site
Thursday's full council planning meeting at the Civic Hall on Calverley Street ran for nearly four hours, with the most contentious item a revised application by Barratt Developments for 342 homes on the former LIDL distribution depot site off Seacroft Avenue in east Leeds. The application had previously been refused in October 2025 on grounds of insufficient affordable housing provision. The revised scheme offers 28 percent affordable units, up from the original 22 percent, against a council policy target of 30 percent.
Councillors voted 7 to 5 to approve the application with conditions, a decision that is likely to face scrutiny from local ward groups in Seacroft and Whitkirk. Community organisations including East Leeds Mutual Aid have been running a petition against the development since February, citing pressure on the nearest GP surgery, Seacroft Village Medical Centre, which is already operating at 103 percent registered-patient capacity according to NHS England data published in May 2026.
The vote reflects a wider tension inside Leeds City Council as it works to meet the government's revised housing delivery target of 5,230 new homes per year, a figure set under the updated National Planning Policy Framework that came into force in January. Leeds delivered 4,910 units in the 2024-25 financial year, its highest total in a decade, but still short of the new requirement.
For residents navigating the week's disruptions, Leeds City Council's heat helpline, 0113 222 4401, remains open until 8pm daily. The Kirkgate Market main hall on George Street is operating reduced hours of 8am to 4pm until the ventilation repairs are complete. The next full transport committee meeting, where the Headrow trial data will be formally presented to elected members, is scheduled for 22 July at the Civic Hall.