Councillors praise Police Action on Travellers

We have praised Police action following the eviction of Travellers from Morley Sports Centre last week. Police exercised their powers to require the immediate removal of the Travellers and their caravans who left the site early on Wednesday evening.

The Police deserve our praise for taking action as quickly as they could and issued a Section 61 notice to require the Travellers to leave. If they had not exercised their powers then an eviction Court Order would have to be acquired which could have taken over a week to obtain.

The Travellers occupied disabled parking spots outside Morley Sports Centre early on Tuesday morning with the unauthorised encampment also occupying greenspace adjacent to the skate park. Leeds City Council made a none toleration decision on the Tuesday and MBI councillors made a formal request for the Police to use their powers to evict after Council Officers undertook the welfare visit they are legally obliged to undertake.

The Police have powers under Section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 which requires Travellers to move immediately should a Police Officer issue such a direction. The Police only use these powers selectively and I am pleased they chose to use a Section 61 direction to clear the unauthorised encampment as quickly as possible.

The section 61 notice also bans the travellers from returning to the site within a 3 month period or face court action.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at Churwell Park

The Mayor of Morley formally opened the new children’s playground in Churwell Park by cutting a ribbon at a short ceremony this Sunday.

The new playground, which cost over £100,000, was built by Parks and Countryside Staff at Leeds City Council with money generated from a Developers greenspace contribution from a new housing development at Daisy Hill in Morley.

We are delighted with this new children’s play area and it has been welcomed by the local community. The playground was built following a large-scale consultation with local residents, Churwell children and Churwell based groups who decided the final design. It is a brilliant playground but we intend to look at improving it further perhaps with a smaller slide for toddlers as well as other play equipment.

The ceremony was attended by Churwell City and Town Councillors and was also supported by Churwell Environmental Volunteers, Churwell Bowling Club and Churwell Action Group who put on stalls and community games for residents and children to play.

We have worked closely with our Churwell Town Council colleagues to find the finance for this project. This is an excellent new children’s playground and we are already looking for additional finance to improve Churwell Park further.

A thousand objections lodged!

Laneside Farm - Churwell

A controversial housing plan on a Greenfield site in Churwell has already attracted a thousand objections with the numbers rising on a daily basis. The planning application for 550 houses - from Housing Developer Persimmons - at Laneside Farm in Churwell has seen residents lodging objections in large numbers since the plan was proposed in June.

I am delighted at the number of objections that have been lodged. A thousand objections show the strength of opposition to this proposal from the local community and how they want to protect an important local Greenfield asset.

The number of objections hit the thousand mark after Morley Borough Independent Town and City councillors put out a flyer and proposed objection letter to all residents across Churwell.

We are grateful for the support we have received from residents. We are objecting because 550 houses on this site will overwhelm Churwell Hill with traffic - worsening congestion that already exists. It will also mean local schools and health centres will be unable to cope with the demand for their services. This Greenfield site is one of the few remaining sections of a green belt which separates Churwell from Morley and we will continue to campaign to save it from overdevelopment.

The decision on the planning application will be taken by Councillors at a Plans Panel with a final decision not expected before the end of the year. Residents can continue to lodge representations up until a final decision is made.

Magpie Lane success

This is a picture of the new Playground on Magpie Lane. The project cost £120,000 to finance and has been warmly welcomed by local residents. My colleagues Cllrs Elliott and Varley have been campaigning for around 18 months to get it refurbished following concerns raised with them by local residents who were commenting on how old and tired the playground looked.

The finance for this playground comes from a Developer contribution that they are obliged to make when they develop new homes in Morley. In this case the funding was linked to the site being presently built on Wide Lane at Owlers Farm. The playground was developed after consultation with local residents and their children, the local primaries and other children’s groups. It is a fine playground with equipment that varying ages of children can use.

We are aiming to bring a similar playground to Lewisham Park later this year or the beginning of next year as Lewisham has no play equipment for younger children. We may have identified the funds needed and more news as the campaign develops!

Lewisham Park Action Day

I was involved in a a Community Clean Up day at Lewisham Park last week.

The Day was organised by Morley Housing Officers and included Housing Officers, Community Payback Team supported by the Probation Service and Cllrs Kidger, Elliott and Finnigan. The day allowed the team to tidy up the park with a litter pick across the area and also allowed the flower beds of the Memorial Gardens (one to Sarah Harper who lived near the Park) to be cleared up after they became overgrown. The delight of such an action day is that Councillors can get out of meetings and into local parks where they meet residents and hear what they have to say. It also allows us to literaly get our hands dirty and to work directly and practically on improving facilities for local residents.

One of the issues raised with us was they lack of a children’s playground at Lewisham Park. It has stuff for older children to do – such as a Multi-Use Games Area (or MUGA as they are called) but no swings or a roundabout for smaller children. We had identified some finance that might be available towards the end of this year or beginning of next which might help finance one. More news when we firm up the proposal.

New playground and outside table tennis table delivered

New Churwell Park Children's Playground

This is the new Churwell Park children’s playground which is opened to the public for the first time today. It is an excellent scheme and incorporates many of the proposals that came through the public consultation process. The park has been financed through Section 106 Developer contributions but has taken slightly longer that planned to deliver. It is an excellent new children’s play area which the community has been campaigning for many years and will accommodate the wishes of both younger and older children. We are grateful for the patience of local residents who have had to wait for a significant time for the playground to be refurbished but we are sure that when they use the playground they will accept it was well worth waiting for!

On a separate matter we have also delivered a permanent outside table tennis table for ping pong enthusiasts next to Scatcherd Park. The table is a permanent and robust one and follows a successful pilot programme last year where residents were able to play table tennis outside at nil cost. The project was jointly funded by the Town and City Councils and aims to get people – both young and old – to get more active and to play table tennis outside for free. We are encouraging everyone to bring their own bats and balls and to give the new table a good work out.

Both schemes have taken a great deal of work to deliver and I am grateful for the support of my MBI colleagues on both the Town and City Councils for putting in the effort to deliver two brilliant projects that initially stemmed from the local community. We are community politicians and we listen to the communities we represent. Perhaps other political party’s – especially those involve in the EU referendum - could learn from this approach!

Laneside Farm Public Meeting Tuesday 7th June at 7pm at Morley Town Hall

Proposal for 550 homes on Laneside Farm Greenfield site

Dear Resident,
A Planning Application for 550 houses for a Greenfield Site at Laneside Farm in Churwell has been lodged by Persimmons Homes.
Morley Borough Independent Town and City Councillors are opposing this application for 5 separate reasons. The first is the levels of highway congestion on Churwell Hill and the associated increase levels of pollution. This proposal will make things worse. Secondly local primary and secondary schools are already full and cannot accommodate the additional 137 primary school children and 55 secondary school children this site would generate. There are presently less than a dozen spare places in primary schools across the Morley wide area. Our third reason for objection is that the local health centre cannot cope with the additional 2000 + patients this site will generate putting more strain on an already busy local health service. The fourth is that this is a valuable Greenfield site which offers a positive “greenbelt” barrier between Churwell and Morley. The fifth reason for objections is the site is also allocated as a Phase 2 site in Leeds City Councils local plan and releasing it for development is premature and unnecessary.

The Development is likely to be modelled on Persimmons Daisy Hill site with the majority being 4 bedroomed executive style housing with little affordable housing. This will still leave over 2,000 people on the Morley housing waiting list without offering any real hope for residents needing a home at an affordable rent.

You can raise your concerns about this application by attending a Public Meeting at Morley Town Hall on Tuesday 7th June at 7pm.

You can also lodge a formal objection by completing the attached objection letter and returning it to the address on the letter or leaving it at the Town Council Offices in Morley Town Hall.

We hope we can count on your continuing support to keep Laneside Farm a Greenfield site. We believe in putting people first - not Developers profits. We recently defeated Persimmons application for housing on a Greenfield site at Churwell New Village and defeated McDonalds at Tingley to prevent a fast food takeaway next to Woodkirk High School. Together we can win this campaign.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. If you require any further information please ring the Independent Helpline on 0781 3322737.

Yours truly

Morley Borough Independent Town and City Councillors