Leave Campaign in Morley for EU Referendum

Leave Campaign Bus in Morley

I was involved with the Leave referendum campaign last week when the Leave bus brought campaigners to Morley to listen to what Morley Folk has to say.

Although the rain poured down there was a very positive reaction towards the Leave Campaign with many Morley Folk confirming their intention to support Brexit.

The Leave Campaign has broad support across the political spectrum with Labour big hitters such as Kate Hoey, Frank Field, Austin Mitchell and Gisela Stuart joining with Boris Johnson and Michael Gove from the Tories and Nigel Farage from UKIP. Leave also has the support of some Trade Unionists who see the EU as an undemocratic and unaccountable organisation as does the Communist Party of Great Britain!

On the In side you have the bankers – Goldman Sachs and the others along with Tony Blair, David Cameron and George Osborne, the bosses union the CBI, the International Monetary Fund and others who have benefited and got rich because of their association with the European Union.

It’s clear Brexiteers are in favour of Europe but not the European Union – an organisation that hasn’t had it accounts audited for many years. The EU is unaccountable and undemocratic foisting on voters much of what they don’t want or need. Our destiny is better in our own hands rather than in the hands of self-seeking bureaucrats.

I’ve campaigned for years for decision making to be brought back down to a local level with decisions taken as close to the communities that are impacted upon by those decisions. A vote to Leave is the only consistent position I can take as I genuinely believe in bringing power back to the people – a concept entirely alien to the army of faceless bureaucrats that run the EU.

Keep Laneside Farm a Greenfield Site campaign

Persimmons proposal for 550 homes on Laneside Farm Greenfield site

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 4 separate reasons. The first is the levels of highway congestion on Churwell Hill and the associated increase levels of pollution. Our second reason for opposition is that 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 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 Development is likely to be modelled on Persimmons Daisy Hill site with the majority of homes likely to be 4 bedroomed executive style housing with as little affordable housing for local people that the Developer can get away with. This will still leave over 2,000 on the Morley housing waiting list without offering any real hope for residents needing a home at an affordable rent.

You can help to oppose this application by attending a Public Meeting at Morley Town Hall on Tuesday 7th June at 7pm to discuss residents’ concerns.

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 with an application they lodged for housing on a Greenfield site at Churwell New Village and beat McDonalds at Tingley to prevent a fast food takeaway next to Woodkirk High School. Together we can win this campaign!