COMMENT

Councillors’ briefing

Beeston & Holbeck Ward Update:

We’ve had some fantastically sunny weather and councillors are hoping that some of that weather hangs around for the school summer holidays. Councillors have supported and attended a number of local events including the Holbeck Gala, which was great (despite the rain!), and the Cross Flatts Farmers market. They are looking forward to the Breeze inflatables coming to Cross Flatts Park on 7 August.

Through the Inner South Community Committee, held on 7 July, Beeston and Holbeck Councillors have financially supported a number of positive initiatives, including: • Funding for lighting on Holbeck Moor’s Multi Games Area • A start up grant for the new Holbeck Moor Football Club • Beeston In Blooms painting of Utility boxes • 9 new litter bins to tackle litter hot spots • Funding to support Beeston Festival which is scheduled for 18 September this year • Funding for the Holbeck Food Bank, which has been busier than ever since the COVID pandemic started • An environment project being run by St Luke’s Church

A massive thanks to all those who applied for funding for the above projects!

Councillor Almass and Gabriel visited the recently extended St Luke’s Church building and were impressed by their vision and really pleased to hear about the work they are doing with Leeds City Council to make us a City of Sanctuary and the new CAP Job Club.

Finally the ward councillors attended a Voice of Holbeck meeting to discuss the ongoing challenges faced due to onstreet prostitution in the area and are committed to working with residents to improve our area for everyone.

Hunslet & Riverside Ward Update:

This month has seen the continued return to our normal community activities as Councillor Advice Drop-Ins restarted for the first time in 17 months, more Street Advice Sessions were held and we began attending more local events as community group’s restart up.

Litter remains an area of current focus and as well as organising community litter picks, we’re also now encouraging local institutions to ‘adopt’ their nearby streets and conduct weekly local litter picks. To support this we’ll look

Councillors visited St Luke’s Church

to provide these groups with litter picking kits etc. Thank you to Masjid Ibraheem on Woodview Road who’ve already adopted the Woodviews and are making a fantastic difference to these streets.

We are also focusing on addressing the poor condition of some of the Leeds Homes estates in the ward as low staff levels for over a year due to self-isolation and illness have had a big impact. Some of the agreed action include: • Highways Gullies clearing a backlog of blocked drains on the estates • Cleaner Neighbourhoods continuing challenges with Covid, we believe they and their families deserve a fun break over summer. So we've secured funding for four major summer fun events across Middleton and Belle Isle.

The events are Mini Breezes, 3rd August, Blenkinsop Fields (next to Middleton Community Centre) and 10th August, Parkside (Belle Isle, next to Windmill Primary); and full Breeze events on 20th August, Blenkinsop Fields; and 24th August, at Parkside.

The Council's local Youth Work Team are also arranging some exciting visits and Consultation on use of former South Leeds Golf Club land - have your say

Councillors joined a litter pick at Rowland Road park

planning estate wide weed removal and pathway sweeps • Housing Leeds Mangers to creating bespoke improvement plans for each estate.

Getting these estates to a good standard again will remain a focus for much of the year so please remember you can also help by report issues (potholes, fly tipping, litter etc.) at services.leeds.gov.uk as soon as you see them.

It was also good to hold our regular residents meeting online for Leeds Dock, Beeston Hill and Hunslet Green but we’re hopeful we’ll be back to face-to-face meetings for the next set in three months’ time.

Middleton Park Ward Update:

Young people have endured a great deal during the pandemic. Despite the activities, such as horse riding, Go Ape, Flamingo Land, picnic and sports, Cooking, Go Karting, Blackpool Pleasure Beach. For more information, please contact Allison Dixon on 07891 277407.

Together with our Beeston and Holbeck colleagues and the Friends of Middleton Park, we're now seeking local people's ideas on the future use of the former South Leeds golf course, and also their views on some suggested proposals.

These include woodland planting, re-wilding, mown and formal walkways, increased biodiversity, wetland/pond creation, access controls, seating, car parking and an activity area and centre at the former clubhouse. The consultation also includes the possibility of a Covid-19 memorial woodland covering about 10% of the land in partnership with Leeds Hospitals Charity.

Consultation is taking place both online at surveys.leeds .gov.uk/s/SLGC21 and at the following locations: • Saturday 7 August 11am3pm, Middleton Park Visitor Centre; • Saturday 14 August 113pm, Leeds Urban Bike Park; • Monday 16 August 46:30pm, Leeds Urban Bike Park and lower end of the former golf course (near the Park Woods).

Your Leeds City Councillors

Beeston & Holbeck ward Includes Beeston from Cross Flatts Park to the Ring Road, Cottingley and Holbeck. The three councillors are: Gohar Almass 07445 878 333 gohar.almass@leeds.gov.uk Angela Gabriel 07946 632 468 angela.gabriel@leeds.gov.uk Andrew Scopes 07860 400 645 andrew.scopes@leeds.gov.uk

Hunslet & Riverside ward Includes parts of the city centre and riverside, Beeston Hill and Hunslet. The three councillors are: Mohammed Iqbal 0113 226 8796 mohammed.iqbal@leeds.gov.uk Elizabeth Nash 0113 275 8594 elizabeth.nash@leeds.gov.uk Paul Wray 07528 512 649 paul.wray@leeds.gov.uk

Middleton Park ward Includes Belle Isle and Middleton. The three councillors are: Sharon Burke 0113 378 8814 sharon.burke@leeds.gov.uk Kim Groves 07891 741 832 kim.groves@leeds.gov.uk Paul Truswell 0113 378 8811 paul.truswell@leeds.gov.uk

In our view

Summer of play

We are actually very lucky in South Leeds to have so many community organisations putting on events and activities for families and children through the school holidays. We also have a Council who is supportive of temporary street closures to encourage play in the community. As our article last month pointed out, organising a play street is also a great excuse to talk to your neighbours, perhaps for the first time in some cases. Help is on hand if you’re not sure what to do, so why not give it a go?

Middleton Park

We publish news in the Councillors Briefing that the consultation on how the former South Leeds Golf Club land should be used is finally getting underway. The land is being added to Middleton Park and won’t be built on. We know some discussions have already taken place and draft proposals will be put forward. Please take some time, especially if you are a user of Middleton Park to study the plans and make your views known. The expansion of the park must be positive and whilst we can’t all have what we want, it’s important we put forward ideas that we feel would benefit the park.

Pandemic safeguards

Covid ‘restrictions’ - or should that be ‘safeguards’ have been lifted. It’s positive news for lots of people. But for many people who have had to shield for more than a year because of other health problems to virus still poses a very real danger. Meanwhile the infection rate has shot up and the virus is circulating widely in our community. Wearing a mask indoors and maintaining your distance from others may no longer be legal requirements, but surely we owe it to each other to continue being as safe as we can - it’s just good manners.

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Your letters and comments

Defibrillators

Thank you for your article on where to find a defibrillator in South Leeds last month. Hunslet Warriors ARLFC, at Hunslet Green, have a defibrillator behind the bar. We’ve had one since the Keighley rugby league player Danny Jones died in 2015, so probably first in the area. Pat Benatmane

Cottingley station

Politicians - don’t you just love ‘em? So out of touch with reality, so happy to chuck our money away on a white elephant that will give little that the current (underfunded) station at Cottingley gives.

Spending £25m on a new station half a mile up the road from the current station is good press. So much unsupported waffle, but if you stick in words like ‘regeneration’ , ‘support local businesses and education’ and ‘housing and job growth’ it all sounds great ... but it will make little difference to the business park, or the students attending the college there. The projected increase in housing in the area (if eventually built) might add some support, but by and large the new residents will further clog up the traffic on Churwell Hill in their motorised chariots. Additionally the station will be too far away from the retail centre for most prospective shoppers to view it as a viable option.

One would hope that with the ridiculous amount of money this is costing there will be at least half hourly services.

As for Cottingley station, well I suppose there may be some intial attempt to maintain a service at peak times, but anyone thinking it will remain long term is deluding themselves. Mac Hawk

Active Travel Neighbourhoods

This feels like a brick to swat a fly. The area needs traffic calming measures to stop he ‘boy racers’, not a total obstruction to all residents. The previously proposed sole entry and exit routes are already narrow roads and if you’ve ever tried accessing these new build estates that do that it’s a nightmare. I really hope the new proposals have taken many of the residents’ concerns into account. Andy

Universal Credit Cut

We support the campaign to keep the £20 extra Universal Credit payment and to make it permanent. We believe that this extra £20 a week has just about helped the less well-off to get through the Covid crisis. It’s also worth remembering that 40% of those on UC are actually in work.

The £20 has amounted to an extra £1,000 a year but tragically the Government plans to end it in September. This is despite the fact that it continues to give hundreds of track & trace private consultants £1,000 a day! And the “Hopeless” former Heath Secretary Handcock arranged for his girl friend to receive £15,000 for 15 days work.

South Leeds folk actually use the £20 extra to spend in local shops and it helps the local pound. For example, there are 74,123 people on Universal Credit in Leeds, so that means it brings an extra £77,087,920 per year to the local economy.

Yet we think that it is bad politics too. For example, the Conservatives in Pudsey have a majority of only 3,358 but there are 5,236 constituents on Universal Credit. So, then, there are more people on Universal Credit than in the local MP’s majority at the last election.

We believe the extra £20 should be retained and made permanent. It should be extended to legacy benefits too. All of this would be more socially just, offering solidarity with the less well off members of society. It is simply the right thing to do.

So, let's KEEP THE £20 EXTRA UC COMING HOME! Steve Johnston (Leeds UNITE Community)

L-R Alex King and Pat Benatmane on behalf of the Hunslet Green Committee receiving a defibrillator from Lizzie Jones (January 2017)

Covid Memorial Wood

I think this is great. I have, on a few occassions, walked through West Wood (?) the woods to the south of the golf course. So now we will have woodland and park from the edge of White Rose up to Hunslet. It’s great to see Middleton Park getting bigger and maybe one day it can sit on a par (golf pun not intended) with Roundhay Park in the north.

Also good to see a memorial as well as place to thank and remember the contribution of those on the front line. This should help build a great asset for the communities around Middleton Park. Andrew McLoughlin

Holbeck Viaduct

Surely this is the route to support the increase in capacity at Elland Road? A walk and cycleway would be great, but it would be better if a light railway could be incorporated. Anon

The Theatre In The Lane

Does anyone know what date did the Queen’s Theatre on Meadow Lane open and close? My Mam’s family lived in the Shands just behind it and my Grandma used to take in lodgers who were appearing there. Terence Nichols

A litter pandemic

Litter bins are all very well but who is going to teach people how to use them? Walk round any street or park and you will find litter just feet away from an empty bin, walking a couple of feet is just too much for some people it would seem. As a child I was taught never to drop litter in the street and it has stuck with me well into my sixties. If there is no bin nearby I will carry it with me until I find one or take it home instead. It is a pity that the same cannot be said for the people who leave empty beer cans strewn around Cross Flatts Park or their bottles smashed on the paths. Stuart Turnbull

Sussex Avenue closure

The closure of Sussex Avenue for six weeks to repaier a power cable is going to cause chaos, there are already four way temporary lights at Balm Road and Moor Road; the M621 J6 has been closed for years leading to more traffic passing through Hunslet, and lanes of queueing traffic. Forcing traffic down Midland Road is just going to make it worse. I do not know the extent of the works, has anyone considered reopening Sussex Gardens as a way of getting out onto Low Road, left hand turn only just for the duration? This way used to be open until a few years ago when it was closed to stop it being a rat run? P Richardson

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MP’s notebook

by Hilary Benn MP

Recently, I attended a demonstration at Leeds Dock organised by the leaseholders who live there and who are affected by the cladding scandal.

Many of them were holding cardboard signs showing the amounts of money they fear they may be asked for to fix the fire safety defects in their building, even though they are not responsible. And they talked openly about the anxiety and the stress that this is all causing them.

There are hundreds of thousands of leaseholders up and down the country who are in the same position, and four years after the Grenfell Tower fire they feel full of despair. Some of them are losing hope.

And yet there is a way of dealing with this that can work. I watched a presentation by a man called Ted Baillieu from Victoria state in Australia who was asked to advise on the cladding problem there. He was a breath of fresh air as he described the direct, hands-on approach they are taking to deal with the same problem.

Their mantra is very simple. Find, fix, and fund. Find all of the buildings that have a problem, fix them all, fund the work and then go after the builders, developers and freeholders who should bear the financial responsibility for putting things right.

The problem here in the UK is that the Government’s approach is a mish-mash that isn't working.

Ministers are putting money in to replace dangerous cladding, but as we know, many other faults on buildings have been discovered as surveyors investigated what lies beneath the exterior. So just replacing that cladding will not make them safe.

Look at the case of the Richmond House fire which happened just two years ago. You can watch the video. It is absolutely terrifying. Most of the building was destroyed in a very short space of time.

Luckily no one was injured, but subsequent investigation showed that it was the absence of proper cavity barriers and fire breaks which allowed the fire to spread. And yet, fire safety defects of this sort which have been discovered time and again in Leeds - are not covered by the Government’s offer of funding.

Common sense tells us that you can't half fix a building. You can't make it half safe. So, if these defects are not put right – and ministers know that leaseholders can’t afford to pay for this - these buildings will continue to be classed as unsafe and waking watch and high insurance bills will continue to drain the bank accounts of innocent leaseholders.

The second big problem is there’s no plan to fix the most dangerous buildings first. The truth is, we don't even know the full scale of the problem - there isn’t a comprehensive list of faulty buildings - and the rate at which buildings may be made safe depends not on assessing the risk, but on the speed with which managing agents and freeholders get their applications in to the building safety fund.

That's why I support the establishment of a Building Works Agency to take charge of this whole process - just as they have done in Australia – and find, fix and fund the necessary works. I think we will have to end up with something like this because the contradictions of the current approach will eventually become obvious, so why don’t we get on with it now?

The most important reason of all for doing this is the continuing distress, mental anguish, uncertainty and costs that are being faced by so many of our fellow residents of South Leeds who are trapped in a nightmare. They can't sell their homes because they are worthless. They can barely afford the charges they are facing. They have no idea how their home is eventually going to be made safe and whether bills will land on the doormat demanding money that they simply do not have.

I will continue to work with MPs from all parties to make sure that we find an answer to this so that the people I met at Leeds Dock can find peace at last and move on with their lives.

And finally, on a lighter note, it was a real pleasure to attend the recent Holbeck Gala for the first time since 2019. OK, so it rained a bit at the start – or to be strictly accurate it rained rather a lot - but that didn't dampen anyone’s spirits. I enjoyed moving from gazebo to gazebo to find shelter, talk to old friends and keep up with lots of local voluntary organisations.

Here's to next year's Gala and better weather!

Hilary Benn is our Member of Parliament. He represents the Leeds Central constituency which covers Hunslet, Middleton, Belle Isle, Beeston, Holbeck, Cottingley in south Leeds as well as the city centre, Hyde Park, Woodhouse, Little London, Lincoln Green, Burmantofts, Richmond Hill and Osmondthorpe Contact: hilary.benn.mp@parliament.uk, www.hilarybennmp.com Constituency office: Unity Business Centre, 26 Roundhay Road, Leeds LS7 1AB; Tel: 0113 244 1097

Hilary Benn MP

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