Our Siegen Manor Campaign

Morley Councillors have come together to oppose proposals to close Siegen Manor, a Morley based Leeds City Council care home that cares for people with dementia. The unified campaign follows a meeting with the families of residents at Siegen Manor as well as senior Adult Social Care Officers at the home last Friday.

We are joining the families of residents at Siegen Manor with their campaign to oppose closure of Siegen Manor. The home must stay open until high quality extra care accommodation can be provided in Morley for these residents with them all moving together as a community.

We quizzed Council Officers about the options to keep Siegen Manor open while new extra care facilities were opened in the Morley area. Officers were also asked about the additional £5 million which could be generated from April 2016 with new proposals for a 2% Adult Social Care levy on Council Tax bills.

 We are unified with residents and their families to find a positive alternative to the closure of Siegen Manor. We are looking for a similar agreement to the one we reached concerning Knowle Manor which keeps the home open until new high quality extra care places become available in the Morley area. It is important to keep this community together and to campaign for the best deal possible for these vulnerable residents.

Adult Social Care Officers agreed to consider the proposals raised at the meeting. The formal consultation process finishes at the end of December and campaigners have pledged to take to the streets of Morley to get the support of Morley residents.

We will be working with our fellow councillors and the families of residents to keep Siegen Manor open until the extra care accommodation become available in Morley which can take them as a community. We believe the new additional funds we will be receiving from the Council Tax levy can support this approach and we call on Morley residents to back our campaign.



MBI Councillors campaigned with residents to save Knowle Manor

MBI Tax Credit Campaign taken to Leeds City Council

Our campaign to stop Working Tax Credit cuts led to a debate at last Wednesdays Full Council Meeting at Leeds City Council.

I started the debate with support from all parties to campaign together to scrap the Governments proposed Working Tax Credit proposals which, if introduced, would mean many Morley families losing out financially. This support follows a similar debate last week at Morley Town Council where Councillors united in their opposition to the changes.

Welfare Reform is essential but the proposed changes will mean that hard working Morley families would be a lot worse off from April 2016. These controversial changes should be reconsidered and other ways need to be explored to make the tax credit system easier to understand while providing the support required for working families on low incomes.

The debate had contributions from all political parties with agreement reached across the political spectrum that the City Council would campaign to try and persuade the Government to abandon its proposals.

We will find out at the end of the month about new proposals the Government is proposing on Tax Credits but there needs to be a clear commitment to avoid reducing the incomes of Morley’s hardworking low income families.

Bruntcliffe Cemetery Improvement Plan

We have welcomed improvements at Bruntcliffe Cemetery following work to improve the footways. The work was completed following a campaign by Councillors to find the finance needed to undertake the improvements after they received concerns from families using the cemetery.

My colleague Cllr Judith Elliott says “I am pleased we have found the money needed to improve the footpaths across the cemetery. It has been difficult to identify the funds needed but a grant from Outer South Area Panel has meant we could get the work completed.”

Morley Town Council is also exploring using finance to improve Bruntcliffe Cemetery further once new funds from the Community Infrastructure Levy, a levy imposed on new development, start to be received.

Bruntcliffe Cemetery still needs some additional improvements and we are working with Bereavement Services to see what other help can be given.