The potential carnage of Morleys Greenfield sites.



New figures released by the Planning Department show the full extend of the potential carnage facing Morley's Greenfields if Labours Housing Targets are to be reached.

Regular readers will be aware of Labours LDF target of 7,200 new houses across the Greater Morley area. The document received shows that a miserly 18% of this target can be found on existing brownfield sites. Even with my poor "O" level in Maths I can work out that a whopping 80% plus can only be reached by ripping up Greenfield sites across Morley. I'd go further and say Developers will choose these greenfield sites before it even begins to look at the brownfield ones as there is more profit in them!

And this pretty much undermines the Labour Party's position of bleating that new development is necessary but some how can be accommodated on brownfield sites alone. This is a lie and always was but it is one that Labour believe that - if it is used often enough - people will then accept as the truth.

The headline figures show over 500 proposed for Laneside Farm in Churwell with a whopping 1000 plus for Tingley Station. Clearly schools, health centres and roads cannot cope with this level of over development but the Labour Party Supported drive from Developers speeds along.

We will off course make this a big election issue next month. Labours position on this issue is feeble and the only other political players in the area - UKIP - have failed to turn up to any of the rallies or meetings to oppose this Developer led carnage of our Greenfield sites. We are the only political group that has had the backbone to take on the Developers and will continue to do so.

We all agree that we need more affordable homes on brownfield sites but this is not what the LDF gives us. We backed affordable homes at Glen Road, Liberty View and Kirkness Court - all affordable homes - all on brownfield previously developed sites. The LDF offers urban sprawl with an overwhelming offer of Executive style homes. That won't help anyone on the present housing list in Morley.

We will continue to battle with Labour and its LDF and hope that we get full support for our campaign in the forthcoming local elections.

Church Fields Victory!

Cllr Wyn Kidger leads the rally at Church Fields

Readers will remember that we have been battling with Developers to save a greenfield site at Church Fields in East Ardsley. We have campaigned hard with our MARC (Morley against reckless construction) colleagues and with the community in East Ardsley to put the strong case against housing development on this highly valued green field.

On Thursday we held a rally at the site prior to the Plans Panel site visit organised by my good colleague and Church Fields Campaign Co-ordinator Cllr Wyn Kidger. Over 50 people attended and it was great to see the community joining with us, waving banners and giving a clear message to Councillors on the Plans Panel about how important this Greenfield site is.

My colleague Cllr Tom Leadley sits on the Panel looking into this application. The Panel received a position statement report to consider which covers the areas of concern - such as traffic congestion and the impact on local services such as schools and health centres. I am delighted to say that the Plans Panel made a recommendation that the application should be refused. This refusal is likely to be confirmed in June unless the Developer voluntarily withdraws the application - therefore withdrawing the threat of development.

The issues from our point of view are clear. Local schools are full and have no space to accommodate the children generated form this development. Bradford Road is regularly congested and a further 600 cars contributing to this congestion would only make matters worse. The local health centre is already busy with servicing the health needs of people living in the area and a further 1000 plus patients feeding into it would make for longer waiting times to see a GP.

These arguments seems to have been accepted by the Labour dominated Plans Panel. How curious is it that the same arguments - which were relevant at Bruntcliffe Road, Daisy Hill and Owlers Farm - were rejected with Labour capitulating to developers on each and every occasion.

Some would say that Church Fields is in a Labour Ward and therefore gets special treatment. Others say Labour are so worried about losing the Ardsley and Robin Hood seat in the local elections in May that they needed to give the embattled Labour Councillors for the area a victory. Whatever the reason it is always gratifying to see a sinner converted to a better path. It will be interesting to see if this is a permanent or temporary conversion!

We are grateful to local residents for their support and Wyn Kidger has put her body and soul into this campaign working closely with the community in East Ardsley. They all deserve a great amount of credit for not buckling under the power of the large Developers wanting to concrete over this valuable site.

We will not be complacent. It appears we may have won this battle and retained this greenfield site. However we all know Labours propensity to u turn and capitulate to Developers when pressed as they did with Daisy Hill. We will battle on. There is no surrender when it comes to protecting the Greater Morley area from overdevelopment!

Victory for the People!

Regular readers will know about my frustrations with Persimmons the developers of Daisy Hill. Local opposition to this Greenfield site being developed was clear and unequivocal. Despite this opposition Labour Leeds City Council - led by Labour Councillors on the Plans Panel - capitulated to this Developer and granted planning permission on this site.

Persimmons have been poor neighbours and have plagued local residents by failing to comply with their planning obligations often behaving in a significantly anti-social way. Residents have been shouted at when they have politely asked for vehicles to be moved that are blocking their drives, residents have been sworn at by contractors working on the site and other issues - such as noise and mud on the roads - are often met with indifference.

All this week I have been inundated with calls about the road closure that Persimmons need to put in services to the new estate. They were advised to consult with local residents and inform them weeks in advance of the closure. Persimmons decided it was enough to bung a quick note through a handful of addresses leaving most people unaware. As a result of this poor attitude the Road Closure Order - which they need to legally close the road - has been rescinded and Persimmons will not be able to close Daisy Hill next week. Indeed this will set them back several weeks because they can't be bothered to take advice and believe they can get away with anything!

This is a good news for local residents and a Victory for the People who have grown significantly more irritated at Persimmons ability to avoid being held accountable for their poor behaviour. This time it hasn't worked and they will pay a financial price for poor behaviour which will result in a delay to their works.

I already have Planning Enforcement and the Police investigating Persimmons poor attitude. A victory such as this one helps restore faith that on occasions the good guys can win!

Protecting Morley Policing Team

As readers will know I have been a big supporter of Morley Policing Team and especially the PCSOs who contribute greatly to the teams success. Although a sceptic when PCSOs were first introduced I am now utterly convinced that they have been a great thing and have materially contributed to falling crime levels. A new report from the Police is again showing a fall in crime levels over the last year - despite severe financial challenges - and that work is a tribute to all the Policing Team who are doing an excellent job.

And that is why I am cocnerned at Labour Leeds City Councils proposal to reallocate PCSOs away from Morley. A present proposal doing the rounds it to shift one of the five PCSOs paid for by Leeds City Council to other areas - presumably Labour areas with higher crime rates. This would mean a 20% cut back in the number of PCSOs paid for by Leeds walking the streets of Morley.

We are opposing this as it seems to us utter madness to stop providing the level of support that will mean we can keep on top of crime levels. The PCSO story is a successful one in Morley and that's because they are a strong visual presence on local streets. Their presence and the intelligence they pick up contributes in a big way to making our streets safer and also contributes to higher detection rates. That keeps criminals where they belong - behind bars!

We will resist such a cut back. It will be interesting to see if our local Labour Colleagues will do the same or if they follow the Party Line and capitulate to those lower Policing levels. As ever - we will report back their voting record!

Cottingley Springs - Pickles calls it in!

The controversial decision by Labour Leeds City Council to grant Planning Permission to expand Cottingley Springs Travellers site has been called in by the Secretary of State - Eric Pickles MP - for a final decision. This means that planning permission has NOT been granted for expansion and that Labour Leeds City Councils £1 million windfall to finance the expansion plan now hangs by a slim thread!

What are we to make of this call in decision?

We have consistently said that the application breaches both National and Local planning policy. It breaches the NPPF. Labour Leeds City Councils policy for Travellers has been thrown out by the Inspector examining Labours LDF as he found it incoherent! Labour has no plan B and their plans don't even have the full support of Travellers themselves or of GATE - the Travellers campaign group.

Everyone now appreciates that Labours Dumping Policy - in areas that aren't under Labour control - is flawed. Even the Travellers themselves are arguing for smaller family run sites across Leeds as the expansion of Cottingley Springs is likely to make the problem worse for many of the residents already living there.

Its is therefor clear that Labours attempt at a political stitch up is coming apart at the seams! As they have no Plan B then money that could have been used for smaller family run Traveller sites is likely to be lost and the additional costs of unauthorised sites dumped on local Taxpayers because Labours is obsessed with keeping Travellers out of Labour Wards.

Just as an interesting postscript on a similar relevant planning matter. A small Family run Traveller site proposed for Sandon Mount in Hunslet - which was due to be approved earlier this month - was pulled by Planning Chiefs on the day it was to be discussed. Hunslet is a Labour Ward. Who could have predicted that!

Eric Pickles will have the final say on this application after it is considered by a Public Inquiry. He is likely to refuse it as it is development in the Greenbelt and even some Planning Department Insiders can't see how it can possibly get through.

We need a Plan B and that means Labour Wards taking some of the new smaller Family run Traveller sites. We in Morley have already taken our fair share - its time for Labour to do the same!

McDonalds Defeat - a victory for people power!

Campaigners against Tingley McDonald's

This week the news was released that the application for a McDonald's take-away at Tingley had been refused Planning Permission by a Planning Inspector.


This is stunning news and a brilliant victory for Vicki Smith and her campaign team who have battled the Fast Food Giant for almost 3 years to prevent the application going ahead. It is also a victory for local residents who came together with a united campaign to prevent the blight McDonald's would bring to this Tingley residential area. This victory over McDonald's shows that local communities can take on large multi-nationals and defeat them even if McDonald's and others have deep pockets and political influence. This is a real victory for people power and a well earned reward for Vicki, her team and the local community.

This campaign was not against McDonald's specifically but against this location as its was clearly going to have a significant negative impact on local residents. We did propose that Capital Park - across the road - would be a better location but McDonald's refused to enter into any dialogue with us about alternative sites.

Is this the last we will see of McDonald's at this location? Probably as a refusal at the Planning Inspector level is hellishly difficult to overturn and prevents any such development for years and years.

We are now looking at working with local residents, MARC and the owners of the site to explore alternative positive uses of this site. This will be community led as we want to see the site redeveloped in a sensitive way which takes into account adjacent residential properties.

This is the third victory in as many weeks coming hard on the heels of confirmation that Cottingley Springs Travellers Site expansion plan is being called in by the Secretary of State and news that the development proposal at Ardsley Reservoir has been withdrawn. It just shows that People Power can win if we all stay united!

Stop Notice on Persimmons requested



 Mud on the road - just another breach by Developer Persimmons

 Readers will remember our long campaign to prevent the development of the greenfield site at Daisy Hill in Morley. This sight was a controversial one and was only granted planning permission when Labour fiddled the planning process by packing a plans panel with Labour Councillors who - like the man from Del Monte - like to say YES where Developers are concerned!

Residents wholly opposed this site and raised concerns that it was a tough site for Developers to develop because of its location. We were told that conditions imposed by the planning permission would prevent problems and that issues such as blocked drives, heavy lorries blocking roads and mud on the road would not occur. We were offered a Disneyland vision where Persimmons would work hard to minimise the impact on local residents with promises they would be a good neighbour.

Promise after promise was broken and residents have had enough living in a Persimmons inspired hell hole!

I have formally requested that a Stop Notice is served on the Developer by Planning Enforcement. These are serious notices that are imposed when Developers refuse to comply with the conditions that are part of the legal agreement that comes with the granting of planning permission. The constant disregard for these conditions and the utter contempt Persimmons have for the local community is entirely unacceptable. We need to send the clearest and firmest of messages that such anti-social behaviour cannot be tolerated.

The stop notice has been requested. It will be interesting to see who Labour Leeds City Council put first - residents or the Developer!