Leeds Crossgates Library petition passes 1,100-signature mark

Leeds City Council is planning to sell off the old Crossgates Library building

More than 1,100 people have signed a petition opposing council plans to sell a former library building in Leeds.

Leeds City Council announced last month it was planning to sell the old Crossgates Library, on Farm Road, to raise much-needed cash.

It said there had been local support to turn the venue into a boxing club, and the new library in Crossgates Shopping Centre had been popular.

Campaigners said they were "strongly opposed" to the sale.

The library's move to the shopping centre in 2022 was initially supposed to have been a temporary measure while refurbishment work took place.

However, a city council spokesperson said plans to refurbish the old library had collapsed when the NHS pulled its funding for the scheme.

A new GP surgery had been one of the facilities expected to be built at the site.

One of those who signed the petition, Mark Nicholson, said: "The old library is a magnificent building and once you've lost an asset you've lost it."

Others said the new facility was "cramped" and was only meant to have been a temporary measure, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

In response, a spokesperson for the authority said: "Given the council's financial position, it is necessary for us to review our entire estate in order to reduce our costs.

"Since the library building was closed it has become the target for anti-social behaviour and has been subject to extensive damage."

They added that feedback about the new facility had been positive.