History of the fields

Red Hall playing fields have been a place for sport and recreation for local people for over 75 years.

The fields are one of the most attractive pieces of open park land within the city. Next door to them lies Red Hall House, a listed 17th century house, one of the oldest buildings within the Leeds metropolitan area.

For many years the fields were used for organised sports.

In the last five years the Council have stopped maintaining the drainage of the fields and organised football matches are no longer played.

However, many other people use this site for recreation. Dog-walking, community fitness groups, kite-flying, bird-watching, safe unsupervised childrens’ play are just some of the uses to which the land is put.

So what’s going to happen to the fields?

The Council has announced¹ that this attractive and popular green space will be sacrificed for building houses and a section of dual carriageway².

Dog walkers from the neighbourhood will have to drive several miles for their daily walk, and children will no longer have the freedom to play out that the fields provide. For the local community, this is the only walkable amenity of any description.

There is already a shortage of accessible green space in Crossgates and Whinmoor³.

This is a precious and much-loved amenity on which generations of people, young and old, have enjoyed sport and recreation. With 2000 homes about to be built just across the road⁴, a space of this size in this location is needed more than ever before.