Church Fields revisited

Readers will remember the controversial application for 370 houses proposed for Church Fields in East Ardsley. MARC (Morley against Reckless Construction) has been campaigning against it and we held a very well attended public meeting to raise opposition to it.

The site was due to be visited next Thursday with a debate on the proposal to take place the same afternoon. This has been postponed because the Planning Inspector examining Labour Leeds LDF document is unhappy with the figures they are proposing and questions whether they have a credible policy on a 5 year land supply.

This is where we get into Fantasy Planning area. As readers will remember the previous Labour Government - under their Regional Spatial Strategy - proposed a housing target of 4,300 new homes every year. The amendments proposed by the Planning Inspector is again suggesting a similar figure of 4,800 - more or less the same. We argue that as Labour Leeds City Council has granted planning permission for over 18,000 housing units on mainly brownfield sites and in a good year 3000 new housing units are built - then 18,000 divided by 3,000 would show enough land supply for 8 years.

But in Fantasy Planning world - occupied by all three major parties - they ignore reality and pretend such targets of 4,300 housing units are achievable and even a good thing! Real people know this level of over development means local schools, health centres and roads are overwhelmed with communities picking up the difficulties well after Developers have buggered off leaving us to deal with the mess they have left.

We will campaign robustly to defend this precious Greenfield site but the game of Fantasy Planning played by the Labour Party and others makes our job much harder!

Town Centre Puzzle!

Morley - a thriving Town Centre

I received a phone call from Channel 4 news this week to discuss Morley Town Centre and the economic upturn. The Director wanted to get some insight into how Morley was doing during these difficult times. I was delighted to give a full report on how well Morley Town Centre is doing in relation to other local towns such as Dewsbury and Batley. I also confirmed that we are expecting new investment such as Wetherspoons and the regeneration of the Pavilion at the end of Queen Street.

The Directors aims were not clear and I spouted on about how we had worked on regenerating Morley Bottoms and how we have the fewest number of empty shops for a decade! I'm not sure if he was disappointed with my reply but he did agree with me that unemployment was lower in Morley than in other surrounding areas.

I waxed eloquently on our partnership with the White Rose and the additional 1000 jobs coming the way of local residents.

I guess it was not what he was looking for but even he had to admit that Morley did not seem to be a Town Centre that was failing. I suspect that as Morley is in the Shadow Chancellors constituency he was wanting someone to portray doom and gloom. He clearly didn't get that from me and that's probably why he rang off rather quickly having thanked me for my background information.

It is important we do all we can to keep Morley Town Centre thriving and I believe we must be doing something right if a multi million pound investment by Wetherspoons and the Pavilion Developer is anything to go by. They clearly see a successful Town Centre worth investing in.

Churwell Lighting Problem Resolved!

New Street Lights coming to a darkened area in Churwell

We often get approached about a specific issue and sometimes it can take many years to resolve it. This has included bringing impoved street lighting to a darkened area and alleyway at the Old Road and Manor Road location in Churwell.

This was initially raised by residents as a community safety issue as the ginnel was very dark and the general area - close to the viaduct - remained dark especially in winter. Street Lighting confirmed that they had no legal responsability to light it and the ownership fell between diffrent council services which made it difficult to find a solution.

Towards the end of last year another resident raised his concerns. I arranged a site visit by the Lighting Engineer who confirmed a solution could be found but he had no cash to finance it. After further discussions between different funding partners it was agreed that we would find the finance with Outer South Area Committee and Morley Housing Office finding the cash to sort this out.

Often the most satisfying part of being a councillor is to resolve practical problems residents face. In this case - with good will from all sides - we were able to shed light on the problem.

Residents on Manor Road and Old Road literally have a brighter future!

Labours Plans to cut Morley Policing!

MORLEY POLICING TEAM THREATENED BY LABOURS CUTS

We have exposed Labours plans to cut Police numbers at Morley Police Station. This bizarre decision is buried deep in a budget consultation document which will see £200,000 sliced from Policing with a relocation of Morley’s PCSOs to inner city (Labour) wards.


As regular readers know the Morley Policing Team has done an excellent job over the last decade to bring crime levels down. This is assisted by high levels of Police Officers out on the streets which are in turn financed by Morley Town Council, Parish Councils and Leeds City Council. While the commitment from both the Town and Parish Councils is to continue to bring crime levels down by continuing their support, Labour Leeds City Council is slashing funding to places like Morley while trying to cram our Police officers in to their wards!

It is clearly unacceptable of Labour to cut Policing in our area while re-directing resources to their own. It will inevitably mean crime levels reversing their current trend and starting to rise again.
At a time when Labour is willing to spend £1 million refurbishing Cottingley Springs Travellers Site then this Policing cut in Morley shows how badly wrong they have their priorities.

We will campaign against this Labour cut as Morley deserves the high level of Police support it presently receives.

Daisy Hill Problems

Many of my readers will remember how long and hard we battled about housing on a greenfield site at Daisy Hill in Morley. This battle was lost as Labour Leeds rejected the views of local residents and dumped the housing on a community that did not want it.

And the results of this Labour betrayal can be seen in the above picture taken on King George Avenue which shows who is having to suffer under this diabolical deal between Labour and the Developers.

This mud on the road is all to typical of what you get from Developers who do not behave as good neighbours. I would have thought that the Developer at this site - taking into account the widespread local opposition to this Development - would do all in their power to stop antagonising local residents further. I have taken up this poor neighbour behaviour with the Developer and we have a meeting with them next week to thrash out this and other problems - such as blocked drives - so that the community can be saved from as much aggravation as possible.

If you have a problem with the Daisy Hill Development such as mud on the roads, speeding vehicles, the blocking of access or any other issue then please ring me at the MBI office on 0113 2477538 so we can get matters sorted.

We will be delivering a zero tolerance approach to developers who continue to be poor neighbours!

Cottingley Springs - the battle continues!

The controversial proposal for the expansion of Cottingly Springs Travellers site agreed by Leeds city Council has been referred to Eric Pickles MP for consideration. The referral was confirmed by Brandon Lewis MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Planning in a letter to me just before Christmas

I am pleased the matter is now to be examined independently by Eric Pickles – the Secretary of State for planning matters. Many local residents believe the decision to grant planning permission for the expansion of Cottingley Springs Travellers site was a political carve-up. This expansion had little support among the Travelling Community, with local residents or local businesses close to the site. It breached both National and Local Planning Policies and that is the area I have asked Mr Pickles to focus on.

Mr Pickles now has the option to call in the application and put it in front of a Planning Inspector who will arrange a Public Inquiry where local residents will be given an opportunity to voice their concerns.

This matters needs to be investigated fully. It is my view that the Planning Report which supported the application and recommended approval was a partial and biased report written to achieve a particular outcome. A Public Inquiry will test if the independence and integrity of the Planning Department has been compromised and will confirm if the decision was a legitimate one or not. I am lobbying Mr Pickles very hard to give local people the Public Inquiry they deserve!

New footbridge opened ahead of schedule

A new footbridge in Churwell has been built which has replaced a dangerous crossing across the railway line just outside Morley Train Station. The crossing was the subject of a tragic death of a Morley Young Person and we have been negotiating with Northern Rail for over 18 months to try and find a safer route to prevent a similar tragedy in the future.

The campaign had the support of Churwell Town Councillors along with the local Ramblers Association and others as it maintains a public right of way across the railway line but it is now much safer for all.

Particular mention should go to Cllr Janet Harrison and Steve Hunter, both Churwellites, who have worked tirelessly for this outcome - taking their community with them.

It is on the strength of their work that a further project has been undertaken to see if a cycle track can be delivered to link the White Rose to Morley Train Station. This is ongoing and the principle agreed. All we now need is the cash to support it!

Can I wish all Blog Readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy Campaigning New Year!