A CLUB which has served Horsforth since 1918 is to close and sell-up amidst claims it has been left "no choice."

Horsforth Social Club had been trying for more than a year to sell off part of its Hall Lane site to developers to pay for a revamp and so attract more members.

But opposition from Leeds Plans Panel (West), which has been considering the proposals (originally for three detached houses), has seen the project stall.

A scaled down, two house scheme was put before the panel last month, only to be rejected over anti-social behaviour fears linked to its layout.

Now Secretary Martin Reeves says planning officers have dealt his club a final, 'killing blow'.

He said: "This stinks. Leeds has come back and said they now want two dwellings with longer gardens stretching all the way back, to cut out the 'hazard' of the earlier scheme, which would have had some car parking behind.

"But they also want us to replace the parking that would be lost. To do that we'd have to make the dwellings smaller and semi-detached, but that would reduce the value considerably.

"We started off having 'approval' from the planning department, before it went to panel, for three detached houses on this site which would have given us around £450,000, enough money to improve the club.

"But the money we'd get from the site with these two semi-detached houses, with bigger gardens, just wouldn't be enough - we could do nothing with with it.

"So the club is going to close down, basically because of the plan Leeds is saying is the only one that would now be acceptable because it's insisting on us having a certain number of car parking spaces."

The club's 206 members have still to actually formally agree on the closure and sell-off plan but are expected to do so at its AGM this weekend.

Mr Reeves said: "The AGM takes place on Sunday, but the general consensus is that we just haven't any other option.

"We'll just have to sell the site off completely so we're looking at that now. Finding somewhere else in Horsforth is a possibility but I don't know, it will be discussed.

"Reading between the lines I think Leeds didn't want a club there, they didn't think it fitted in with the environment and now they've managed to squeeze us out."

The plans panel was actually recommended to approve the two detached house plan in February.

And at its last meeting several members of Horsforth Town Council, all expecting that scheme to be approved, said they were happy with it.

But panelists asked for a re-design after hearing security concerns raised by one resident whose home would have backed onto the parking area behind the new houses.

Town councillor and Hall Lane resident David Read said: "I'm sorry to hear about this , especially because I'm a club member.

"The town council was happy with the two detached houses plan, no-one objected to it, so this has come as a surprise.

"I think it's a missed opportunity because the club should be viable and I think it could have been made into a profitable enterprise.

"It's maybe not in the ideal place, and some will be glad for it to disappear, but personally I don't think it causes any real problems and it's a facility many of us appreciate."

Throughout the long history of the scheme the level of car parking needed (along with anti-social behaviour fears concerning a nearby footpath) has been the major bone of contention,

The club has insisted its car park is virtually empty most of the week, only filling for a Monday night line-dancing class and special events.

But some residents claimed there was already an on-street parking problem in the area which the housing scheme would have worsened.