HIGH Royds Hospital at Menston has officially been sold to a property developer for £26 million.

As exclusively revealed by Wharfedale Newspapers last month, London-based The Raven Group has bought the 200 acre National Health Service-owned site.

It hopes to build 500 homes, a new primary school, dentists and doctors surgeries and a small shop.

The development, estimated to cost around £140 million, will aim to encourage people to use public transport and is seeking to work with Metro to lay on buses linked to Menston Railway Station.

A total of 320 new properare proposed while a further 180 will be created from converting the listed hospital buildings.

There will also be offices for small businesses with people encouraged to live and work within the development.

A spokesman for The Raven Group, Ben Krauze, said: "We're trying to make the whole development very sustainable and are trying to reduce car movements every way we can.

"We are talking with Metro who have said they will increase the number of carriages on trains and also the frequency at peak times and there will also be a bus service running around the development to Menston Station. People will also get a free MetroCard when they buy a house."

He said the company is also working with St Mary's Sch-ool on the improvement of sports pitches and the creation of a layby to take school traffic off the busy A65 Bradford Road.

He added the company also planned to re-open a disused railway tunnel under Brad-ford Road for schoolchildren to use instead of crossing the road.

"We shall be refurbishing St Mary's cricket ground and two football/rugby pitches which will be passed over to the school on a long lease.

"We shall also be working with the school to improve the traffic situation which at the moment can be a major problem with parents dropping their children off and buses.

"We intend to take the traffic off the A65 by building a slip road on the school's land. We also intend to open up the tunnel beneath the road which the children will be able to use."

Talks are also underway for a replacement for the High Royds Sports and Social Club.

The psychiatric hospital is due to be closed in spring next year and it is hoped work will start in the summer.

The Raven Group believes re-development of the site will take five years and plans to finish it in sections rather than undertake the whole project at the same time.

"We're not going to rush at it. We want it to grow into the landscape," said Mr Krauze.

He added every effort to involve Menston people and councillors would take place with plans on show at the library and at Menston Railway Station and meetings with individual working groups set up.

A spokesman for Leeds City Council said: "NHS Estates has considered a number of bids to redevelop the site since 2001 and Raven Group was selected as the preferred developer.

"Raven Group has been putting together a master plan for the redevelopment of the site, which combines the preservation of the listed buildings with some newly constructed buildings.

"No planning application has yet been submitted.

"The scheme that we are looking at currently is primarily for a residential development with some other buildings including offices.

"There will be a pre-application consultation over the master plan with local residents in Guiseley and Menston, local councillors and MPs.

"We do not yet have a date for this, or the submission of the scheme, but we are trying to make progress as quickly as possible."