12:09 pm, January 4, 2023
Car dealership Bennett Renault could buy a section of land from a neighbouring school as it looks to expand its electric vehicle business.
The dealership, based on the A58 in Sheepscar, submitted a proposal to Leeds City Council about the expansion over the Christmas period, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.
The plans reveal it hopes to use the area of land to display more vehicles and to install five electric car charging points.
The grass area currently belongs to Holy Rosary and St Anne’s Catholic Primary School, located at Leopold Street, Leeds, and is approximately the size of half a football pitch.
Bennett Renault said in the report that the plans are necessary due to increased demand for electric vehicles.
Bennett Renault Leeds and the grass land next to it
According to the newspaper, Bennett Renault’s agent wrote in the proposal that it had ‘discussed this proposal with the governors’ of the school and ‘as part of the proposal the applicant has offered a financial contribution to assist in improving the external activity areas of the school and received a positive response.’
The plans would also require several trees currently covered by a tree protection order to be cut back along the perimeter, according to an attached tree report, but the dealership has said it will plant new trees if planning is approved.
In the tree report it adds that the location is currently an open playing field but that because it is sloped it is not ‘generally used for organised school activities’.
The council is expected to make a decision on the proposal later this year.
