Final backing is expected next week for a major new £15 million sports hub in Holbeck, paving the way for work to begin on a scheme aimed at improving sports provision and community facilities in the area.
Leeds City Council’s executive board is due to consider the project on March 11, with senior councillors expected to approve the appointment of a contractor to deliver the development. The Holbeck Sports Hub is planned for the site of the former Matthew Murray High School and is intended to provide a range of new facilities for local residents and sports clubs. Construction is expected to start in August 2026.
The development will include three full-size artificial grass football pitches, two multi-use games areas and a new community building featuring changing rooms and a café. Plans also include a children’s play area, along with walking and running routes through the surrounding green space off Brown Lane East and Ingram Road.
Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for adult social care, active lifestyles and culture said:
“We look forward to the work starting on the Holbeck Sports Hub, which will be a significant asset to the local community and residents in south Leeds.
“It will provide affordable and accessible quality sports pitches, providing more opportunities for physical activity and play and spaces to meet up and connect.
“We are also working towards an agreement with a GP practice so that the area can benefit from new high-quality healthcare provision to meet the needs of the community.”
There are also ambitions for the site to provide a new home for a GP surgery, adding to the wider health and wellbeing benefits the hub is expected to bring to the community. The all-weather pitches are designed to offer sustainable, high-quality training facilities, helping to reduce pressure on existing grass pitches and address a citywide shortage of more than 20 such pitches.
The Holbeck development will be the third sports hub in Leeds to be delivered in partnership with the Football Foundation as part of its National Parklife programme. It follows the Woodhall scheme in Calverley, which is due to be completed for the 2026/27 playing season, and Green Park in Temple Newsam, where work is set to begin this year.
All three hubs will be managed by the National Football Trust, a not-for-profit organisation, with any surplus income reinvested into council-owned and other third-party outdoor sports facilities.
If approved, the Holbeck hub would mark another major investment in community sport in Leeds, while also creating a new space designed to support health, wellbeing and grassroots football for years to come.
The programme is joint funded by the Football Foundation and Leeds City Council capital funding. Read the full report at Council and Democracy
