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!

Church Field Meeting a success

The MARC (Morley against Reckless Construction) meeting to discuss the proposed development of Church Fields in East Ardsley has been hailed as a success by campaign organiser Cllr Wyn Kidger.

The meeting, attended by over 90 local residents, discussed the community’s concerns about the application from Barratts the Builders and David Wilson Homes for 370 houses on the Greenfield site.

Cllr Kidger said “It was a brilliant turn out and the residents should be commended for their commitment to work together to get this application refused. We are delighted to be supporting residents with this campaign.”

Residents raised concerns about the capacity for local schools and the local health centre to cope with the proposed level of development as well as commenting on the congestion problems that regularly occur on the Bradford Road corridor through East Ardsley. They also raised other issues such as the impact on local wildlife and the positive benefit the Greenfield site offered for peace and tranquillity in the village.

Cllr Kidger said “We will be meeting again in January to develop a series of posters for people to display who support the campaign and to maximise the number of objections to this application. If we remain united we can win this campaign and defeat the Developers!”
Objection forms are available by e mailing keepchurchfieldsgreen@hotmail.co.uk or by contacting Cllr Kidger directly on 07790090777.

Keep Church Fields Green Campaign



Church Fields at East Ardsley

 We are holding a public meeting in East Ardsley next Tuesday to get support for the MARC campaign to keep Church Fields in East Ardsley green. The Meeting will be held at the Conservative Club on Chapel Street East Ardsley on Tuesday 10th December at 7pm.

The meeting will discuss the application for 370 housing units on this greenfield site from Barratts the Builders and David Wilson Homes.

MARC oppose this development because local infrastructure cannot cope with this level of over development, This is because both the local primary and secondary schools are full with children already living within the area without any capacity to take the additional children this site will generate. Local children will therefor be unable to obtain a place at a local school. It is well known that the local health centre struggles to cope with the present demand on its services and the local roads - especially the A650 - already have large volumes of traffic using the system which only gets worse when the motorway network - the M1 or the M62 - are fouled up. Invariably traffic aiming to miss such congestion goes through East Ardsley and it is not as if that is a rare occurrence!

Church Fields is a greenfield site designated as a protected area of search but Labour Leeds City Council - along with its acquiescent Labour Councillors on Plans Panels - are happy to roll over and do the Developers bidding if such sites come up for development. Why they don't have more spine and refuse such applications when Labour Leeds City Council has already granted planning permission for over 20,000 housing units on mainly brownfield sites is a significant puzzle. Surely it is only reasonable for Developers to develop these sites before one blade of grass on a greenfield site is removed! That would seem logical but not to Labour Leeds City Council!

We will of course be backing the local community with the campaign to protect this greenfield site. I suspect their present local Labour Councillors will be as feeble as they were when considering the LDF (all three voted for the LDF and its target of over 7,000 housing units across the greater Morley area). It will be interesting to see if they oppose the application. I suspect they will as there are votes in it and Labour can always be guaranteed to be flexible with its principles if they loose votes!

There is an e mail address that can be contacted for objections forms which is keepchurchfieldsgreen@hotmail.co.uk. I hope residents will back the campaign and complete as many objection forms as possible.

I'm expecting a vibrant meeting next Tuesday. I'm looking forward to getting on the campaign trail again!