AN application for a retirement complex on pitches at Otley Rugby Club has been submitted to Leeds City Council.

The McCarthy Stone scheme would consist of 73 apartments and 16 bungalows, and would incorporate a village green, and car parking, including provision for parking at the cricket club and squash club.

Otley Rugby Club is planning to relocate from Cross Green to its East Otley site

The southern part of the existing site is located in the Otley Conservation Area but the majority of the site is to the north of the conservation area.

Developers say the proposed scheme will enhance the conservation area by demolishing modern building and providing development and landscaping more in keeping with Cross Green.

The rugby club had originally hoped to leave its iconic Cross Green home last year and had planned to move to its new site on Pool Road by July 2021.

But its relocation plans are linked to proposals to create a new relief road as part of the East of Otley housing scheme - and delays by Leeds City Council in submitting a planning application for the road meant everything had to be pushed back 12 months.

The plan was reformulated for the club to have a ‘nomadic year’, playing homes games at West Park, in the 2021-22 season with the aim of holding its first match at its new ground in July, 2022.

Leeds City Council has received an objection from a resident living close to the proposed retirement complex who, whilst not objecting to the scheme itself, is concerned about additional traffic on Cross Green.