‘Historic’ completion of £14million housing project

Leeds’ Jewish community is celebrating this week after the completion of an historic housing development described as the biggest moment for the city’s Jewish community for three generations.

Local dignitaries were on-hand to help open the new Queenshill Avenue site in the Moortown area, comprising 85 new properties, including 51 sheltered housing apartments for those aged 55 and over, and another 34 general needs flats.

It represents the culmination of years of planning for a £14 million project that has been pushed by Leeds Jewish Housing Association (LJHA), which called it an “historic development”, where one in eight of the city’s Jews will live.

The sheltered apartments at Cherry Tree House are connected to 130 existing properties to form a sheltered village of 181 apartments for older people with secure access to the Ziff Community Centre.

The project had support from government housing agency, increasing LJHA’s overall stock by 13 percent, as LJHA chair Jayne Wynick thanked the former residents of 22 homes which had to be demolished to make way for the new buildings.

“Fifteen per cent of the Leeds Jewish community live with us,” she said. “People go but others come back or move here. We have a vibrant Jewish and cultural life and people engage in many activities and voluntary work. We care for one another and our housing association is the envy of many in other communities.”

Wynick added that the LJHA was “now looking at the family homes our community desperately needs… to provide families with the same safety net we offer our youngsters, elderly, couples and singles,” adding: “We need gardens where children can play safely and homes with room to grow.”

Lord Mayor of Leeds Cllr Robert W Gettings, who visited the Jewish community centre last month, said: “I expected to meet lots of Jewish people. In fact, I met not only lovely Jewish people but also Muslims, Sikhs, Catholics, and others. It was community cohesion at its best.”