Leeds’ Headingley Stadium has been given a further boost after the city council gave the green light for the venue to host music events with a capacity of up to 20,000.
The rugby stadium was last year cleared to host two 10,000-capacity concerts per year, making it one of the largest music venues in Leeds. Plans have now been approved for events at double that capacity following a city council meeting last week.
The rugby stadium, home of Super League’s Leeds Rhinos, has a capacity of 19,000 and is located next to Headingley Cricket Ground, which seats around 18,000 fans.
Following last year’s approval, a further request was submitted to Leeds City Council that would allow up to four concerts per year with an attendance cap of 19,999. There had been concerns among locals that major music events at the stadium would cause noise pollution but the request has been granted.
In a statement reported by the Leeds Live news website, Leeds City Council said: “The application was made to increase the maximum number of live music events to four per year over two weekends and to increase the maximum number of people who would be permitted to attend to 19,999.
“The licensing sub-committee unanimously resolved to grant the application, subject to an additional condition that the dismantling and removal from site of any equipment and apparatus used in connection with a music event will not take place before 8am on the day after such an event has taken place.”
The number of objections from local residents led to the matter being put to Leeds City Council’s licensing sub-committee. Richard Parr, who represented a group of residents, had said that the proposal was “really worrying” and would add to existing noise created by rugby matches and planes.
While committee member Councillor Neil Buckley said that he had sympathy with residents, he stressed that the application was specifically about the additional concerts and did not refer to other potential forms of noise pollution.
Image: Emerald Headingley Stadium
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