New 20mph zone is a good news story!

The newly introduced 20 mph zone on Fountain Street is a good news story. It slows the traffic down on Fountain Street and keeps students using Fountain Primary and Morley Academy safer. The scheme - which is part of a Government pilot project - reduces the speed limit across a specific area and will be rolled out to other areas after it is fully assessed and the results are clear.

A similar scheme is to be introduced into Gildersome with the aim of slowing traffic that flows past both primary schools in the village and a further road marking scheme for Churwell Primary also offers a safer traffic environment for children and parents.

So you'd think that everyone would be happy with this. Apparently not the Labour Party! At a recent Town Council meeting the whole Labour group voted against an MBI amended resolution welcoming the change. Unbelievable!

We have worked hard on traffic safety schemes and the new system we delivered on Britannia Road seems to be working well as car speeds are reduced because of road narrowing measures. We still have work to do and a road safety programme for Wide Lane close to the school is working it way through the processes.

Highways concerns will always be an issue and with increasing car numbers on roads aligned to a large group of intolerant and ant-social drivers around I suspect we will have plenty of work to do in the future.

Defending Morley Greenfield Sites

The news of a new housing development proposal on Daisy Hill in Morley comes as no real surprise. The site, which was allocated by the Labour Party for Housing Development when they voted for the UDP in 2001 has been kept green by strong resistance put up by the Community and the MBIs. This battle hotted up when Labour - with the full support of local MP Ed Balls - agreed higher housing targets in the Regional Spatial strategy in 2009 ( a decision supported by local Labour Councillor Neil Dawson). These new targets were to be abolished said the incoming Tory/Lib Dem Government but they failed to take the legal action to do so.

This leaves us in a mess as Labours Housing Targets - although clearly unrealistic - are used by Developers to claim that greenfield sites - such as Daisy Hill - need to be handed over for development to reach these bogus targets. The Developers took legal action and won when a judge - equally as barking as many of his associates - agreed that such housing targets were legal and that planning appeals should therefor be shelved!

Leeds completed about 1000 new homes over the last year , 3000 below these bogus Labour targets. The 3000 unbuilt ones are carried over to next year which means an additional 7000 need to be built to keep up. Clearly Developers will cherry pick the best sites and avoid brownfield ones where real regeneration needs to take place.

Labour continue to moan and carp even though this is a problem of their own making. To satisfy their targets will inevitably mean giving up greenfield sites and this means Morley's eight greenfield sites are presently under real threat.

The choice in Morley is a clear one. You can either back Labours approach which means Morley Greenfield sites are doomed as they sprint to achieve their targets or back an MBI alternative which will put future housing development on brownfield sites and save greenfield sites for future generations.

Skate Park News

The new skate park for Morley is back on track following a recent meeting to discuss the financing of the improvement programme. The cash is now sorted and the final plan is out for some minor tweaking by the young people who initiated the proposal and whose ideas are being accommodated in this plan.

It has been a hard slog to bring the finance together - especially in this difficult financial climate - and many people have been sceptical that this plan could be delivered. But the plan is to be implemented later this year - weather permitting - with the new skate park available next Spring. The support (and patience) of young people and other residents has been much appreciated and the whole process with community involvement has been a positive one with the final plan much improved through their input.

It has been suggested that I give it a crack myself on a skate board when it is completed but opponents may be disappointed that I have no intention of breaking my neck just yet!

Here's to happy skating in the future!