Alleygating proposal for Tingley Crescent

Morley Borough Independent Councillors are working closely with residents in Tingley Crescent to explore the options to have a ginnel gated off with an alleygate.

The proposal follows concerns raised with MBI Councillors about high levels of anti-social behaviour and other criminal behaviour associated with use of the ginnel that leads through to Bradford Road.

The support from residents have been overwhelmingly positive and on a recent visit to the ginnel I saw for myself the high levels of destruction and graffiti that blighted this location. An alleygating scheme was successfully introduced into Siegen Close several years ago which has contributed to lower levels of anti-social behaviour and to residents feeling much safer and more secure.

We are taking to Council Officers about how we take the appropriate legal process to have the site gated off and we have identified the finance to support this project and we hope to introduce it as quickly as it is legally possible to do so.

Playground Progress

I am delighted at the progress being made at Scatcherd Park Playground. Much of the new play equipment is already in while the larger central play piece - a large scale climbing frame is going in to the present sand covered section.

The playground refurbishment follows hard on the heels of other schemes we have delivered including Hembrigg and Hesketh Lane and we have further ambitions which will cover improvements at Dartmouth Park as well.

We are presently out to consultation for further work at Hesketh Lane to see if we can provide goals posts and perhaps some activities for skaters and skateboarders. We have had several responses back - some supportive - others no so supportive so we will need to balance the wishes and concerns of the local community before any further work is completed.

I understand the skate park re drawn plans are presently out to consultation and I hope we can progress this project in the not to distant future.

St Marys Public Meeting

I attended the public meeting to discuss the Planning Application regarding St Marys organised by my colleague Cllr Terry Grayshon. The meeting was well attended and mainly good humoured as many people raised their concerns about the application.

The meeting was addressed by a planning officer from Leeds City Council and the architect for the Developer both of whom answered very difficult questions in a fair and honest way. It became clear that most (if not all) of the attenders opposed the present application. The planning officer accepted that the present plan was likely to lead to a refusal on Highways, loss of amenity and impact on the conservation area grounds and the architect was sent a clear message from the meeting that the present proposal is unacceptable for the same reasons.

The architect has agreed to go away from the meeting with residents concerns and to re-work the proposal which, I suspect, will be scrutinised equally closely.

Perhaps any future meetings need to focus on what would be acceptable for the building. It is clearly unacceptable to all for any access to come off coffin corner and for any large scale block which impacts on Troy Road. It is similarly unacceptable to most residents for any attempt to interfere with the graveyard itself although there seemed to be a reluctant acceptance that if the graveyard remains undisturbed, a sensitive placing of grave stones may be more acceptable.

A proposal is being prepared which could see a lottery bid to convert the church to a heritage centre. I wish the proposal the best of luck but having being involved with lottery bids before I know that it can be a difficult challenge to convince funding bodies to stump up the cash. Our own Shirley Varley attended a funding board several years ago in Todmorden to ask for finance to support conversion of the church to a heritage centre but was refused because the building is a grade 2 listed one and not a grade 2 star building which apparently meant no finance could be offered.

I hope whatever happens in the future will deliver a proposal that will retain the church and avoid the need for any disturbance of the grave yard. If this can be delivered within a sensible planning application then we need to consider it fully.

A final footnote about Morley's BNP Councillors. The BNP Town Councillor Joanne Beverley couldn't be bothered to attend at all while Cllr Chris Beverley attended for 40 minutes , said nothing at all and then disappeared! On this occassions he wasnt a "no show" Nazi but more of a "bail out early" BNP Councillor.

St Marys needs to be preserved to continue to positively dominate Morley's skyline for the next 140 years. I hope a proposal will come forward in the near future that achieves this aim.

St Marys in Morley

I have followed the campaign relating to St Marys with much interest.

Many residents will be aware that the Morley Borough Independent Councillors on the Planning Committee rejected the planning application for the church because of concerns relating to highways and loss of amenity relating to the hotel block. They deserve credit for the serous approach they adopted and the decision they reached after hearing about all the relevant aspects of the application.

Cllr Shirey Varley also deserves credit for maintaining the church and its associated heritage for many years and her attempts over the last few years to turn the site over to Morley residents as a Heritage Centre. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, lottery and heritage funding was refused perhaps because of the initial £200,000 repair bill that came along with purchasing the property.

Much has been said about the sale of the church but I understand that the property was offered for sale through an estate agents but that purchasers were reluctant to purchase it because of the £200,000 repair bill associated with it. This process was open to anyone who had an interest but I am told there was little interest from anyone during this period.

The important principle as far as I am concerned is that the building is retained and the graveyard remains undisturbed. It is always possible that without a progressive approach the Church remains under attacks from vandals. It would be regrettable if such attacks led to the need to demolish the building as we will all lose out if the iconic skyline that includes St Marys is changed because of a failure to act positively.

I am interested in the community campaign to save the building but I hope that their actions so late in the day - which follows the valiant but unsuccessful work from Shirley Varley and her team to deliver this building to the community - are not doomed. Now is the time for plain speaking and to come up with realistic alternatives. It is not a time to play fantasy politics which will do little to protect the building and the graveyard in the long run.

The public meeting next week - organised by my colleague Cllr Terry Grayshon - is a welcome opportunity to explore a realistic alternative and I hope residents will attend and make their views heard.

Corporation Street New Housing - demolition starts

The new affordable housing for the over 55s seems to be moving forward positively with demolition crews taking out the old buildings for the significant new build to commence.

We have worked hard to deliver this scheme and we were the first - and only people - who suggested that this location could make way for homes to rent.

The old site was previously in Morley Borough Councils ownership and it appeared has been missed off Leeds City Councils asset book and was therefor available for this much needed social housing. The new 2 bedroomed properties will offer higher environmental standards and more appropriate accommodation for older residents - hopefully liberating other council homes for those on council house waiting lists.

The new homes should be up and available later this year.

Budget Meeting at Leeds City Council

Wednesday saw the debate to set a budget for Leeds City Council. The debate, that spanned over 3 hours, is often an opportunity for different parties to put alternative budgets to that proposed by the present Administration. Certainly the Labour Party always proposes an alternative as do the Greens. My own view is that it is purely a piece of political theatre and spent my allotted time discussing the main budget proposal and its impact on Morley. Both the Labour and Green budgets agree with the Administrations main proposals and they offer alleged alternatives amounting to less that 0.1% of the total budget so there is a great deal of consensus on budget priorities.

The main headlines for the budget are a 2.5% increase in Council tax levels - the lowest since the council tax was introduced with extra money going into Children's Services (additional social workers to keep children safe and prevent an Edlington event) and more into Adult Services (which means Morley Elderly Action are to get a substantial financial increase in this years budget.) The Morley Borough Independents backed this budget which brought extra money into Morley including the cash for the Morley Bottoms Regeneration Scheme, the Corporation Street affordable housing and the cash for the new Sports Centre and to improve our parks and playgrounds. Strangely enough our no show Nazi Cllr Chris Beverley voted against the budget and presumably doesn't support this spending across the Morley area. The bizarre things is that he gloats about his decision not withstanding it would mean reducing policing levels across Morley and the withdrawal of Morley CCTV schemes if the budget was not agreed!

Of course Cllr Beverley has little interest in Morley matters and sees his role as promoting the BNP national line and took the opportunity to do so in a later debate. The debate was suppose to be about protecting greenfield sites and what we could do to bring more affordable homes to local residents on brownfield previously developed sites. Cllr Beverley used the opportunity - not to defend the seven Morley greenfield sites under threat of development - but to promote BNP national policy on immigration. Its clear where his priorities lie while the MBIs backed a resolutions which will keep these greenfield sites green.

But perhaps the funniest thing at full Council was Cllr Beverley's refusal to admit to twittering during the Full council meeting. Twittering is a process where people connect to the Internet and leave short comments for others to read. Cllr Beverley was caught twittering during the full debate - clearly ignoring what other people were saying - smugly boasting about promoting BNP national policy. At the end of the meeting he was given an opportunity to admit to this activity and - like the spineless individuals the BNP are - refused to tell the truth! Unfortunately a Labour Councillor - who had also been undertaking the same activity - admitted his guilt - what an interesting contrast!

The budget is an interesting one and will mean we have a difficult financial settlement to cope with. It will not be the last and future settlements may prove even more challenging!

Bullying and Bullies

The revelations - or more accurately the allegations made about bullying at 10 Downing Street have opened up an interesting debate about the issue. While it is clear that bullying in any environment is entirely unacceptable, allegations need to be based on sound evidence and those who make false allegations need to be held accountable for making bogus complaints which are often made for personal gain.

I was recently involved in a bogus bullying allegation made by the previous Town Clerk for Morley Town Council. The allegation made was closely examined by an Employment Tribunal Judge and found to have no substance what so ever and her claim on this aspect was dismissed. Indeed the Judge commented that the previous Town Clerk was prone to hyperbole (which means obvious and intentional exaggeration) and took a combative approach to dealing with Councillors. This allegation made by the former Town Clerk was a pile of purulent pap and was backed by a previous Tory Town Councillor whose signed affidavit was rejected and whose evidence (and I use the word loosely) was dismissed as inaccurate.

The final outcome of this bizarre claim was that the Town Clerk received a payoff which - after clearing her legal bills - left her with a very small fraction of her original claim of £325,000.

And what about our own No show Nazis - the Beverley Councillors on this issue? Well Chris backed her claim by attending the Employment Tribunal and sitting in her interview room during the hearing. His wife refused to support putting a legal defence - presumably because she wanted to bankrupt the Town Council and pay out the £325,000 claimed on a bogus allegation! Of course this doesn't stop our BNP buddies making similar allegations at every opportunity, pretending that the claim cost a lot more than it really did. Perhaps the Town Clerk is not the only person who suffers from hyperbole - that is obvious and intentional exaggeration.

I generally have little sympathy for Gordon Brown whose judgement on many issues - Iraq, Afghanistan, the Banking Crisis should legitimately be questioned but many of these allegations seem to lack substance or evidence and are are being used as a political weapon for those politicians who have a clear political axe to grind. Ill watch with interest to see how this develops. Perhaps Ill pass on the details of the solicitor who was used to successfully dump the bogus allegations made against certain Town Councillor and suggest Gordy gives him a ring!

By-Election Bonanza for Labour?

The result of last nights By election in the Hyde Park and Woodhouse Ward brought a bit of a shock to the present Administration and a bonus for the Labour Party who gained 2 extra seats over the last week - one with this result and the other following a defection from a previous Lib Dem.

The figures make for interesting reading for Morley Folk as the present Administration has a total of 46 seats and the magic number to win the vote on issues is 50. This leaves the 5 MBI Councillors in a position of influence and helps us make reasonable request to the Administration to benefit Morley residents. This has brought a new Leisure Centre, additional funding for Morley Parks along with three affordable housing projects underway in Morley which will bring new homes to local people.

There is little doubt that the present Administration has worked hard to bring a fairer distribution of resources to the outer areas which suffered substantial under investment over the years of the previous Administration. Our job is to see that further funds come to support our Improvement Programme for the Morley area.

The local elections this May will ask questions of all the local party's operating in Morley. I will be very interested to see their answer!

Churwell Park CCTV scheme operational

I was delighted to visit Churwell Park to see the operation of the new CCTV scheme. This has been a successful MBI initiative that resulted from concerns raised by the local community and Churwell Action Group.

The new cameras, which cover the park 24 hours a day, are placed to prevent vandalism to the children's playgrounds, the bowling green and pavilion as well as the central boulevard which will see the introduction of a new local sculpture feature. The new cameras will reduce levels of anti-social behaviour as well as reduce levels of under age drinking.

We care passionately about our parks and we have seen a renaissance across Morley as we have identified additional cash to bring them up to higher standards.

This CCTV programme has given me an insight into the complications and obstructions the law introduces to those who want to make areas safe for the overwhelming majority of law abiding citizens. Legislation including the Human Rights Act, The Data Protection Act and the Regulatory and Investigatory Powers Act (known as RIPA) challenge communities and seem to be designed to protect the nefarious wrong doer rather than those who have nothing to hide.

Conversations with local people leave you with a clear view that they want more CCTV - not less and do not understand the views of trendy libertarian types who want to see such systems removed. Of course the BNP have previously stood on a platform of removing CCTV as well as abolishing the automatic number plate recognition system - the same system that has monitored the whereabouts of criminals and led to the successful prosecution of the murderers in the Sharon Beshenivsky case presumably because they don't want their membership (which has included convicted terrorists David Copeland and Terence Gavan) closely scrutinised.

This CCTV programme is warmly welcomed by the local community who believe it is a strong and positive development which makes their park a safer place to visit. We will continue to push for more CCTV coverage where ever it is appropriate.

Bruntcliife and the West Leeds SILC

The issue of Bruntcliffe High school and the proposal to place the West Leeds SILC (Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre) on the same site has been hotly debated recently with the Headteacher, Governing Body, Parents and MBI Councillors all raising concerns about this relocation.

My worries relate to the impact such a proposal would have on the good work Bruntcliffe are undertaking which has seen standards soar. Not too many years ago Bruntcliffe was part of the schools national challenge process were Central Government kept a close eye on progress in the school as it needed to increase the number of pupils gaining Maths and English GCSE at grade C or above. Bruntcliffe results last year easily passed this threshold and they hit the best GCSE and A levels results ever. My view is the school needs to continue to undertake this work and not be distracted with all the issues that would result from another school being physically plonked on its doorstep. The area of land proposed for this new sighting has already been earmarked to expand the vocational curriculum Bruntcliffe runs which is already nationally recognised and is offering local children a more expansive and relevant programme.

Bussing West Leeds kids from their communities into an area they have no relationship with cannot be good for them. If we are sincere in adopting an inclusive educational approach then these children need to be integrated into their own community - which is the best option for all.

Education Leeds have gone out to consultation and appear to have listened as I understand the proposal has now been withdrawn while a more appropriate location - in West Leeds - is found.

This is good news for Bruntcliffe and good news for West Leeds kids attending the SILC. For once common sense seems to have prevailed!

Coffee Mornings and Morley compassion

I attended a coffee morning on Saturday which was organised by the Mayor of Morley Cllr Shirley Varley to raise funds to support the victims of the Haitian earthquake. I was delighted to see so many local folk turning up to support this cause and over £300 was raised in a little over 2 hours.

I regularly reflect on the generosity of Morley Folk and their compassion and practical support to other communities who have suffered from natural disasters. We are all aware of the great fund raising efforts that took place in Morley following the tsunami in 2004 where over £250,000 was raised to support the rebuilding of the devastated community in Thirokoville in Sri Lanka. The compassion of Morley Folk is overwhelming and their commitment to doing what they can to aid and assist other communities across the world - regardless of race - is something the Town can be very proud of.

Cllr Varley deserves credit for again galvanising this charitable approach from Morley Folk.

Indeed while Shirley Varley is raising funds for charitable purposes - Cllr Beverley uses the same time to rant about being excluded from some debate at Durham University! The contrast between spreading hope - as Shirley does with her actions or hate as - Chris Beverley does with his could not be clearer.

If we accept that we are all know part of a Global Village and we see the desperate need of other world residents we have an obligation to help them. As ever Morley folk - far from shirking their responsibilities - embrace that obligation.

Corporation Street affodable homes - apprentices wanted

Some of the initial work on the Corporation Site homes has commenced with clearing up and site preparation.

This is a site for 2 bedroomed properties to rent for the over 55s and I am particularly proud of the fact the MBIs have brought the over £4 million finance for this project to Morley.

Part of the deal of regenerating this old Council site is to offer employment and apprenticeship opportunities to local people and we have just been given confirmation of a recruitment process by the Housing Association. People who are interested can ring the Housing Association directly on 07747 787904.

The MBIs do believe that regeneration schemes should involve local people - not only as the final users of these properties but also in the physical regeneration of this site.

The allocation policy on this site will focus on local people and again offering those in large Council homes who are over accommodated newer accommodation more suitable for their needs. This will hopefully lead to more larger council family homes coming back to be allocated to those Morley families on the housing waiting list.

Skatepark Updated

I attended the skatepark meeting on Tuesday which was chaired by Cllr Shirley Varley - the Mayor of Morley - to avoid any allegations of partiality. The meeting was initially quite a turbulent one with many different views being articulated - most supporting plan A but some supporting plan B. Officers from Parks and Countryside Section were in attendance to give a clear view about what could and could not be done.

The budget for the refurbishing of the Skate Park is about £50,000. This is funds outside the Section 106 pot (which is the contribution developers have to give to support improving parks and greenspaces) and has come after some serious lobbying from myself and my colleagues. Both plan A and B can probably be delivered within this budget and P and C staff have been sent away to fully price up plan A.

Perhaps the most constructive element of the meeting was at the end when a large number of young people came forward to look at plan A and came up with suggestions about its improvement. Much debate has gone on about the inclusion or exclusion of a bowl where there seemed to be different views about its usefulness.

We have pledged to have another meeting shortly after the plans have come back fully priced up. This process will look at all issues - including lighting - and decisions will have to be made on priorities if the costs are over budget. The date of this future meeting will publicised to make sure we get the same support we had on this occasion.

The plan needs to be agreed as quickly as possible as the money has to be spent by October so the sooner we can get on with the work the better!

As a final note of interest - the BNP Councillor Chris Beverley didn't attend - again. Allegedly he was busy with national BNP politics posing in front of a BNP sign on the back of a lorry in Morley!

Lets hope work on the new skatepark will commence before the Easter break!

Calls to regulate Fido

I have received a large number of enquiries about dog fouling as, following the thawing of recent heavy snow, Fido and his friends appear to have launched an early spring offence on local parks and pavements.

Dog Fouling is a difficult issue to solve. LCC has 4 dog wardens to cover the whole City Council area and although they will take action and prosecute those inconsiderate dog owners who allow their dogs to foul and not clean up - they are a limited resource and more work needs to be done to increase the enforcement and education elements around dog fouling.

How do we get more cash into combating dog fouling? The City Councils budget is already stressed and the big spending Departments are Education and Social Services. It would be a brave politician who proposes cutting those budgets to launch an effective attack on dog crap!

An alternative to this is to make the polluter pay. A reintroduced annual dog license for every dog in Britain, perhaps set at a fiver a year, would bring in substantially more resources to increase and upgrade enforcement campaigns. This would be renewed annually and dogs who are not licensed will be removed from the streets and rehoused (following payment of a new license) with more responsible owners. We could have a dog warden in every locality continuously cruising and keeping the dog crappers under very close supervision and surveillance.

As a dog owner myself I accept that I should contribute some cash on a regular basis to resolve the dog fouling business. The other costs for keeping a dog are far in excess of a basic dog license and will be a small additional price you pay to literally clear up the mess.

We will be putting this idea for debate at the next full council meeting in April and hope to get cross party support to crack down on dog crap (if that's not a bizarre image)!

Fidos dog fouling days could soon be over!

Bin Laden (with rubbish)

Many bins across Morley have been laden with rubbish as the Councils bin service struggled to cope following the recent bin strike and the subsequent bad weather.

The black bin service is slowing creeping back to something like reliability and the green and brown bin service is back operating on the schedule residents were given last year. The advice to all residents is put put out all bins on the relevant agreed dates.

It was interesting to hear that recycling rates in Leeds still hit 31% despite the strike and the total cost for the strike (offsetting wages saved against other costs) was about £30,000. We argued from the start that Bin Workers wages needed to be maintained but that this needed better productivity to cover these higher costs. We said this prior to, during and after the strike and this was the deal that was ultimately reached. It is regrettable that both sides could not have negotiated a similar agreement without the need for a strike or the loss of bin workers wages.

The new productivity deal will incorporate new routes which will look to fit in all bin clearances between Monday and Friday avoiding the need for Saturday bin clearances. Saturday Clearances are notoriously problematic - additional parked vehicles etc - and I have received numerous complaints over the years. I hope the new routes will reduce the volume of complaints I receive.

People ask what they should do if a bin is left. The best answer is to ring it through to the MBI Office on 0113 2477538 were our team will make sure the bins get cleared as quickly as we can.

Affordable Housing on the Glen Estate

I was reviewing the file relating to the new affordable homes being built on Glen Road which will be finished later this year. This scheme, which is for affordable homes to rent and to jointly own, is one I am proud to be involved with.

The homes at this location, which are family homes with gardens, were made bigger following our request. Many new homes have tiny bedrooms and our thinking was that rooms needed to be bigger if they were to accommodate growing families. The plans had to be adjusted and we ended up with fewer units but with more living space.

The building is progressing well and the skeletons of these family homes can already be seen. They will be built to higher environmental standards than the private sector which will reduce fuel bills for families and decrease their co2 emissions.

Some of the homes are to rent - at an affordable rent. Others will be offered on a joint ownership basis where a percentage of the equity can be purchased at the start and the other part of the equity has a rent paid on it. As the owners financial position improves then they can purchase more equity until they own the whole property. The joint ownership option is an attempt to avoid speculators obtaining the properties cheaply at the start and flogging them off - at a profit - shortly after. The joint ownership option reduces this possibility and helps on to the housing ladder those whose income precludes them from obtaining a large mortgage.

The need to deliver more family homes remains a high priority for the MBI Group. Other schemes, at Morley Bottoms and Corporation Street, will aim to encourage older residents to move to more appropriate accommodation and release larger council homes they are often struggling to cope with. The Morley Bottoms Scheme may also be an option for families with older children - especially with many youngsters remaining at home until there late 20s.

We continue to look for sites in Council ownership to develop more family homes but their numbers have dwindled and we are presently unaware of any further suitable sites. We continue to look at the viability of disused garage sites but the practicality of developing such sites is often overwhelming.

We are making a dent - even if only a small one - on the housing waiting list but we will explore every options that is made available to us to bring more affordable homes to Morley.

Holocaust Memorial Day

I attended the service to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day at Leeds Town Hall yesterday afternoon. The service is held annually on the Sunday nearest the 27th January which was the date the Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration Camp was liberated by the Allies in 1945. The event is a highly emotional event not only focusing on the Holocaust but on more recent genocides such as those in Bosnia, Dhaffur, Cambodia and Rwanda.

It was an opportunity to remember the 6 million people who were murdered in the Holocaust, including Jews, homosexuals, Roma, the Disabled, Communists and Socialists. We must also remember the thousands of people who have died in atrocities carried out after the war when we reflect on mans inhumanity to man.

The growth of extremism, whether from the left or the right, secular or religious, must constantly be challenged by us all as failure to do so has a corrupting and toxic effect on communities which allows this murderous activity to go on unchecked.

The event had readings and performances from local schools while the seven commitment to remember the Holocaust were read out under an encompassing message of the Legacy for Hope. Perhaps the most touching of the readings came from Iby Knil, a survivor of Auschwitz Birkenau with her poem "I was there." This should be compulsory reading for those on the toxic extreme right including the BNP amongst whom there are Holocaust deniers - including their beloved Leader Nick Griffin who failed to explain on Question Time how he had came to hold those views. Perhaps not surprisingly our own toxic BNP Councillor Chris Beverley was nowhere to be seen -as usual! I suspect he is not particularly supportive of the event.

Holocaust Memorial Day will be formally recognised on Tuesday. I hope local residents will take a moment to reflect on the Holocaust and other atrocities and to pledge to do all they can to avoid such evil occurring again.

Pensioners Group to get cash boost

Morley Elderly Action is a group that supports pensioners across the Greater Morley Area. This covers pensioners in East Ardsley through to Drighlington. It undertakes a lot of hard work supporting pensioners with gardening schemes, home security, with sorting out problems with benefits and providing luncheon clubs and places for pensioners to meet.

The grant MEA have received form Leeds City Council has been one that has barely increased over the years and has been a significant point of concern for MBI Councillors. We have campaigned for some time for a fairer deal as other similar Neighbourhood Networks have received higher funding per head of pensioner population. A new commissioning arrangement has been agreed which, when implemented in April, should double the size of grant MEA are likely too receive.

This is good news for the organisation and its team of workers, many of whom are volunteers, and expands the opportunities to increase the great work they do.

As the elderly population grows, and older people want more out of life than uninspiring day centres, it becomes essential for more money to be found to support this aging community.

I have to say that Adult Services and Cllr Peter Harrand down at Civic Hall have visited the MEA and have been supportive of the changes that have led to this cash increase. It requires a re-allocation of resources from a building based approach ie using money to keep open half empty day centres that few people want to use and re-focus these funds to offer more opportunities in the community.

Morley Elderly Action do and excellent job and getting them a fairer deal will remain one of our priorities.

Yesterdays Full Council Meeting

Yesterdays Full Council Meeting started at 1.30pm and went on until 7.30pm yesterday evening. It is split into different sections and starts with delegations from local community groups. Yesterdays delegations included the Young Mayor for a Day who spoke passionately on the issues of disability, a group trying to reduce the speed limit in a village near Bramhope and a group of youngsters asking for traffic calming in their community in Chapeltown.

This is followed by a series of questions from Councillors. They come in two versions. The ones from the Labour side are almost universally hostile and the ones from the Administrations side are soft ball ones, usually used to promote whatever candidate is facing an election shortly. Occasionally the MBIs or the Greens will ask a question that might actually be relevant.

We then go into comments on the minutes of all committee meetings held over the last 8 weeks and we can comment on what ever issues we wish. I spoke up about section 106 monies - which are used to improve parks and green spaces (Scatcherd Park and the present replacement programme being a good example). My colleague Cllr Leadley commented on the Comprehensive Area Assessment - a piece of Central Government baloney which is made up of trendy faces such as "going forward" confirming the level of dross in the report. Cllr Terry Grayshon called publicly for the buses to be placed back into public control or at least to be re-regulated. Cllr Bob Gettings spoke up about children's services and the need to improve outcomes for local children.

The other councillor for Morley - the extreme right BNP Councillor Beverley said nothing during the whole meeting. This is hardly surprising as he spends the vast majority of his time outside the chamber on the phone - presumably asking for advice from Nick Griffin!

We break for tea and a sandwich at 5pm which is not the lavish banquet detailed by the YEP and all people present, the public, councillors, officers who are there for the duration of the meeting, all attend. I would invite anyone down to see what really goes on a tea time and you may be disappointed that the tea that is put out is not the Babylonian Feast it is claimed to be.

The rest of the meeting discusses white papers resolutions which can commit Council to implement certain actions. Yesterdays included a debate on a recent Ofsted Report on Children's Services - not pleasant reading - a commitment to reducing Council CO2 omissions (overseen by Friends of the Earth who packed the public gallery) and a brief debate on the Leeds Arena. After several electronically recorded votes, we left the chamber at 7.30.

It is difficult to see what purpose the Full Council Meeting serves. It is barely attended by local voters, is used as a platform for overly political debates and spreads little light on issues while generating much heat and CO2 omissions!

I suppose the ultimate test is that this type of Democracy is the worst possible system - other than all the alternatives.

Roll on the next meeting - the Annual Budget Meeting scheduled for next month!

Skatepark Update

The meeting to discuss Morley Skatepark is to be held on Tuesday 2nd February in the small Banqueting Hall in Morley Town Hall starting at 4.30pm. All welcome.

"The Times" in Morley!

I have been contacted today by a journalist who works for the Times and is writing an article about the new Morley and Outwood Constituency and Ed Balls chances of winning it.

The journalist will be in Morley tomorrow to get a "feel" for the area but I suspect he is more interested in producing a story that will show the battle Ed Balls has with winning the new constituency and what challenges the Tories will present in what everybody predicts will be a close contest.

The MBIs are often asked if they are standing a candidate at the General Election and there is certainly a certainly some pressure being placed on us by local residents who don't want to vote for any of the big three parties and remain unconvinced about supporting the extreme right BNP. It is clearly a challenge for any small grouping to put up a candidate as all other parties - including the BNP with their Euro handouts - have large amounts of cash to run a campaign. The MBIs in contrast are self financing and struggle to compete against this well financed opposition.

I stood at the last general election and can say from a personal point of view that the expense is crippling and the work exhausting. I was pleased to get over 4000 votes, putting me into 4th place behind the big three - with twice as many votes as the extreme right BNP but the chances of an independent candidate being able to make a challenging impact without more human and financial resources is somewhat unlikely!

If you bump into the Times journalist then give him a warm Morley welcome and pass on a message that Morley Folk - and their votes - should not be taken for granted.!

Morley Skatepark Replacement Programme

A certain controversy has followed plans for a new replacement skate park for Morley. Initially we found the funds for an upgrading programme after a lot of hard work and lobbying and a set of plans was published in the Morley Ob. People were given an opportunity to comment on the proposals and sets of plans were placed in both the Library and at Morley Town Hall.

Two young skaters took away the plans and proposed quite a radical re-working of the proposals which would seen a new, fully concrete cast skate park - a smaller (much smaller!) version of the one at Woodhouse Moor. This was proposed as an alternative to the original plan which proposed re-using much of the present equipment and adding an additional concrete bowl and teen shelter. This proposal was one we were going out to tender for but I was visited by a mother of a skater who confirmed that they had a preference for the original plan and could all work be stopped!

Work was stopped while a meeting was held between the two different parties about the options for a consensus view. This did not seem possible so a final consultation event is to be held over the next fortnight or so where everyone who is interested can examine both plans, plus others from Garforth and Woodhouse Moor to see what the wider skating community wants.

The final decision on the layout has to be theirs as most Councillors - me included - don't know one side of a skateboard from the other and it is important that the skate park users make their views known.

At this point there is no way of knowing which of the plans is the more likely to succeed. What I can say is that the final programme will reflect the wishes of as many local skaters as possible - even if full consensus cannot be achieved.

Look out for the details of the consultation meeting on this blog as soon as the date becomes fixed.

Funeral of Lance Corporal David Kirkness

I attended the service for Lance Corporal David Kirkness in Morley and later at Wakefield Cathedral.

This brave young man, who was taken from us far too quickly, is an inspiration to us all. Tributes at the Cathedral showed his overwhelming bravery and humanity and confirmed all that is good about our Armed Forces and the challenging job they have to do.

I was struck by the number of residents who attended at both Morley and Wakefield and the dignity they brought to the occasion. Both sets of residents burst into spontaneous rounds of applause as the funeral cortege passed and made both services extremely moving and emotional experiences.

Regardless of the political debates that surround the present conflict in Afghanistan, Lance Corporal David Kirkness is a shinning example of someone who cuts through the rhetoric and placed his live on the line to save others - at an horrendous personal cost.

We should all take a moment to reflect on the courage of our Local Hero.

Morley Bottoms Housing Meeting

I attended a very helpful Morley Bottoms housing Meeting on Friday. A planning application has been submitted for a high quality and environmentally friendly building which will offer accommodation for local people. Much commenting has taken place on this matter and it is important to set the record straight.

The new housing will be run by a housing association and people will be charged affordable rents. The accommodation, because it has 2 bed roomed apartments as well as a wheelchair friendly lift, will appeal to older families or older residents who need 2 bedrooms - perhaps because of disability. All new tenants will be vetted and will be allocated properties if they have a record of being a previous good tenant. The properties will have a local lettings policy (several of which already exist across the Morley area) to make sure local families receive the highest priority. A further impact should be the movement of tenants from council owned family homes into these properties - allowing us to offer family accommodation for those on council house waiting lists.

Opponents to the scheme do attempt to come up with all sorts of reasons to undermine this scheme but the Morley affordable housing project - which transcends three sites across Morley - is the right priority for any group committed to housing those 2000 applicants on the Morley Housing Waiting list. Being a Councillor is about getting things done - not being a constant spectator who offers endless commentary - but no action - to resolve the problems we face.

The Morley Bottoms Housing Project is a good news story. An ugly building will be demolished and replaced with a building that enhances the area and offers high quality housing for many local residents. It will remove the blight of a private sector housing block which has delivered numerous bad tenants across the years and replace it with good quality tenants who will improve the area and be part of an improving community.

Work will start in early Spring and should be completed by the beginning of next year. Residents who want to be considered for these property can contact the MBI office on 0113 2477538 or by e mail on robert.finnigan@leeds.gov.uk and their details will be passed on to the Housing Association for consideration.

New Scatcherd Playground - work begins

I was pleased to see work commencing on the replacement playground at Scatcherd Park. Despite the appalling weather, contractors have moved in to commence work to replace the tired and old playground with an up to date state-of-the-art one which will become another good reason for visiting Morley Town Centre. The new playground, along with the new Leisure Centre and proposed refurbished skate park will offer a real jewel in Morley's crown encouraging people to come to Morley to shop, be active, skate and bmx as well as visit the new playground with their children.

It will go hand in hand with the renaissance that has taken place in Scatcherd Park and Scarth Gardens which has meant a substantial increase in use of the park by local residents.

MBI councillors have worked hard to find the finance for these new projects and it comes hot on the heels of refurbishments at Hembrigg and Hesketh Lane playgrounds with additional work to be undertaken at Churwell and Dartmouth later this year.

We have been fully committed to working through all playgrounds across the Morley area and will continue to campaign, persuade and cajole additional cash into the area until with can have similar playgrounds at all our parks.

Re-regulate the buses!

The Office of Fair Trading has apparently published a report today stating that the bus companies have been ripping off passengers with higher than necessary fares; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8444961.stm

Most people accept that this has been the case since the buses were de-regulated under the Conservatives in the 1980s. It was claimed at the time that the competition would increase services and drive down prices. The reality was a reduced service and higher bus fares for all. This inevitably had an impact on bus passenger numbers which dropped substantially and contributed to road congestion as many people chose to use their car instead.

!997 came with a New Labour Government who again failed to re-regulate the buses and left many towns with a private monopoly - giving consumers the choice of take it or leave it!

I have consistently argued that the buses need to be re-regulated. The only area were bus use is increasing is in London - which has a regulated bus service. Bus companies have made millions in profit over the last 20 years plus and now is the time to make sure that they plough some of their profits back to offer some social support for other less well used bus services. This cross subsidy seems to be a fair way of increasing bus services - and therefor bus use - while holding down bus fares at a reasonable level.

Lets hope, with General Election coming up, this issue can be properly debated.

Its snow joke!

Ive been around Morley this morning to check out how estate roads are coping with the weather. I was heartened to see a gritter rolling along Scotchman Lane and I have asked for assurances that the gritter will systematically work its way across the major routes initially and then into the main spine routes through the estates.

The Harwell Estate in Churwell seem pretty bad along with the the estate road around the Sandmeads but the Ibbotson Estate along with some of the Birdie Estate seems to have coped reasonably well. I was particularly impressed with some of the roads of Peacock Green where residents have worked together to clear their cul-de-sacs to allow cars to get in and out of the estate. They are to be congratulated.

We are told that this is the worst period of snow in the North for over 20 years and knowing what to do in the future is one of the challenges we must face. Do we gear up, as Canada does, for substantial snow every winter and have gritters on standby and grit mountains stored and waiting? What if the snow does not materialise and we have expensive assets standing around with nothing to do? Can we predict what the future will bring with the variations global warning imposes on us? I suspect we need to accept these challenges will occur more frequently and put an increased but sensible budget aside for such future events. Certainly the City Council did increase this budget last year and we still have enough grit to last for the foreseeable future, but stressed budgets in the future will mean tough but sensible decisions need to be taken.

We will also need to explore the community option and the opportunity to mobilise capacity within the community to find a local solution to these challenges.

Snowed in in Morley?

The weather today has had a significant impact on the Morley wide area. Most of the roads are slow with many vehicles struggling with the hills that surround Morley. Morrison's car park is only about half full and many people are valiantly making their way to work in whatever way they can.

The interesting debate is the one about gritting and snow clearing. After last years problems the Council has put more money into gritting and snow clearing - keeping most of the main roads clear during the Christmas break. Is it now time to consider setting up an extended snow clearing strategy which looks at weeks - instead of days - of heavy snowfall. Is it an inevitable consequence of global warming or a one off where money set aside to gear up for such future events may be wasted?

I think we need a debate on this issue and we also need to reflect on whether we revisit previous years where those who are able bodied and registered as unemployed are asked to join a snow clearing team that particularly focuses on clearing pathways adjacent to properties and areas with large numbers of pensioners. It would enable the unemployed to make a positive contribution to their community and show future employers their working commitment during difficult circumstances.

I'm embracing this new technology. Hope to offer regular reports.