Planning row blights dog refuge

Council planning officers are worried about access to the kennels

A dog rescue centre in West Yorkshire could be forced to close as a planning dispute comes to a head.

The Whitehall Dog Rescue used to be run from car sales premises on Whitehall Road in Leeds.

Now Brian Wheelhouse, who runs the project, has moved the rescue kennels to the village of East Ardsley between Leeds and Wakefield.

But Leeds City Council is unwilling to grant planning permission for what is a greenbelt site.

Giving up cars

"I basically ran the car business to pay for the dog rescue," Mr Wheelhouse said.

"But now I'm giving up the cars and concentrating on the dogs.

"Basically they just take over your life.

"The council have said I can only do anything on greenbelt land in exceptional circumstances - what's more important than the lives of these dogs?".

The city council said in a statement: "To approve an application to change the use of this green belt land would require very special circumstances.

"We would be willing to discuss with Mr Wheelhouse any special circumstances he feels we should consider as well as his intentions for the future use of the land.

"However, [the] lane is narrow and we have concerns over its use as an access road for the delivery and collection of dogs."