MBIs clean up in Morley!



New street cleansing barrow coming to Morley

 Street cleaners in Morley will shortly return to the Town Centre with a street cleaning barrow – a piece of equipment not used in Leeds for many years. The return to traditional street cleansing measures follows action taken by my colleague Councillor Judith Elliott who campaigned for the barrows to be returned on to Morley Streets.

The Street Cleaner with his brush and barrow was something many of us remember from previous years. This return to a traditional street cleansing approach is very welcome as I believe – as do many local residents – that this approach is a better way to keep our street clean.

The barrow should be seen in Morley Town Centre over the next couple of weeks. A similar approach to street cleaning still operates across neighbouring Kirklees Council.

This traditional approach will be more effective in clearing the streets of smaller items of rubbish and particularly cigarette tab ends. The brush and barrow allows the Street Cleaner to get right down to the nitty gritty and will allow us to keep the streets tidier. We are also looking at higher levels of enforcement and officers will be patrolling the streets to issue penalty notices to litter louts.

Although I am accused often of only having an interest in the heavy duty issues around Morley – such as Planning or Travellers sites – street cleansing is an area where we need to try harder – even in these cash strapped times – to improve the quality of life of local residents and to keep the town centre as tidy as we can.

The MBI colours of the street cleaning barrow are purely coincidental!

2nd class education?

This is a press release I sent to the local papers following yesterdays disgraceful Plans Panel decision on Daisy Hill Close.

A “u turn” on a controversial housing application on a Greenfield site in Morley by Labour Councillors on a Plans Panel will lead to a second class education for local children claimed a local councillor. Morley Borough Independent Councillor Robert Finnigan had convinced Plans Panel members to reject the application for 14 houses on the Daisy Hill Close site at its August meeting following a site visit but Labour Councillors reversed the decision at its meeting this week and agreed to give Developers Planning Permission.


Cllr Finnigan said “This application was refused last month as councillors accepted that the local schools had no space available to offer school places for the schoolchildren this site would generate. They also had concerns that this site is not sustainable because of poor bus services serving the location and overcrowded local trains. Planners confirmed this was the case at this month’s meeting but Labour councillors reversed their previous position and voted to accept it.”

Councillors were also given a report that confirmed the road network leading to Daisy Hill Close was inadequate and that some train were so full they could not take any passengers from Morley station.

Cllr Finnigan said “The greatest losers because of this decision will be local children. All primary and secondary schools in Morley will be full by 2016 with children already living in the community but this development – adding to the new developments of 177 houses on Bruntcliffe Road and 98 houses at Daisy Hill - will leave large numbers of schoolchildren with no place to go. The only option will be to increase class sizes or to crane in portacabins to deal with this increase. This is offering local children a second class education and this is not acceptable.”

This is the second time Labour Councillors have overturned a refusal decision. The controversial Daisy Hill application was initially refused last year but was brought back in front of different members who refused it at a later meeting.

Bedroom Tax abolition Campaign

The Morley Borough Independent are leading the campaign in Morley to abolish the Bedroom Tax. At next Wednesdays Leeds City Council meeting we will put up a resolution for the Council to support our campaign to have this unfair tax abolished.

Welfare Reform is necessary. There is no avoiding the fact that the welfare bill is too large and unaffordable and resources need to be better targeted. But the Bedroom Tax is not a fair or reasonable approach to this task. The Bedroom Tax penalises those in Council Housing that have bedrooms "spare". It is unfair and unacceptable as the Council does not have the properties to support tenants to downsize. Over the last month we have seen 6 tenants in our office, including disabled people, a family with a new born child and a full time carer all having problems with the Bedroom Tax. These are vulnerable people who have little if any choice to move. This is what makes the Bedroom Tax unacceptable.

My personal view is that the Bedroom Tax will collapse on itself when Judges - who have to agree to evict tenants for non payment of Bedroom Tax - fail to grant eviction notices because tenants don't have the cash to pay this rent element and alternative accommodation is not available. Until this happens - and the whole process is abandoned like the Poll Tax was - we need to campaign to get rid of it.

The Labour Party may take the moral high ground on this issue and bleat about its unfairness but have not confirmed nationally that they are prepared to abolish it. They should give a clear and unambiguous commitment to doing so. But trying to get Labour to commit to doing much is an almost impossible task.

We will see if the Comrades back our campaign next Wednesday. Lets hope they have the political spine to do so.