If there is one issue that is bound to spark controversy it’s the closure of a residential home or sheltered housing complex for older people.

Being forced to move out of your home at any age can be incredibly upsetting, and the impact on the elderly should not be under-estimated.

But the closure of Haworth Court in Yeadon is not as clear cut as it might first appear.

It seems to be universally accepted that the existing complex does not meet the required standards.

And Leeds City Council’s plans to replace it with a potential ‘flagship’ development could certainly not be considered to be bad news.

But there are fears about the impact on residents who might not want to leave their homes, and local councillors are concerned about their welfare.

The £1.5m that is to be spent on a brand new purpose-built extra-care housing scheme has to be good news for the area. But the needs of the individuals involved must be paramount.

Sale of fields is an issue for all

In one respect, Otley Rugby Club’s intention to sell a piece of its training pitches to a housing developer is a matter, entirely, for the club itself.

After all, the land in question is theirs and they stand, no doubt, to make a very welcome financial gain from the deal, should it be agreed by members at a special meeting next week.

Few would begrudge the club, which has done so much for local sport for so many years, such a windfall. But the location of the pitches in question actually makes the issue one of great interest to many in the wider community too.

Talk, anticipation and even dread about the ‘east of Otley’ housing scheme, which could see hundreds of new homes built on green fields on the town’s outskirts, has been rumbling on for ages.

Should the club go ahead with this land sale, then a major obstacle to that much-discussed project becoming a reality will have been removed – because the site is needed by the developers to create the scheme’s mandatory relief road.

We will have to then wait and see if the town will, as some are warning, indeed be swamped by up to 600 new homes and all the extra pressures that would put on its roads, schools, health services and more. The rugby club, as an integral part of Otley, should, as Councillor Colin Campbell says, bear those wider implications in mind before approving the deal. But it would be naive to think that, in these continuingly tough economic times, it shouldn’t also strive to do what it can to preserve its own future.