Headingley’s unrecycled glass

It’s clear that the people of Headingley really want household glass collection. We can tell by how often we see sights like this when we are walking round the ward.

Uncollected glass

Maybe some of these boxes eventually make it to bottle banks – but for the many Headingley households which don’t have a car, that isn’t an easy option.

Elsewhere in the UK, 89% of councils now offer household glass recycling collections, including every major city. But Leeds remains behind the curve in not offering this vital service.

This is bad news for all of us. The proportion of waste recycled in Leeds has actually been falling recently, from 43.7% in 2013-14 to 42.9% in 2014-15 (the most recent figures). Councils at the top of the national league table are managing recycling rates of over 60%, so there is huge room for improvement in Leeds – and household glass collections would be an obvious way to get the rate up.

Until that happens, Leeds city council will continue paying to put unrecycled waste into landfill sites instead, costing money in local council tax. And all of us will pay the price as our environment degrades – both through the excess waste and through the traffic emissions caused by hundreds of individual journeys to bottle banks.

Post Office petition update

Local response to the Save Headingley Post Office petition has been phenomenal! This picture shows just some of the paper signatures which have flooded into the Leeds North West Lib Dems office or which we have collected on the door-steps. Along with over 1800 people who have signed the petition online, that now amounts to well over 2000 voices calling on Post Office Ltd. to halt their plans for closure – indeed nearer to 2500. It is very clear that the people of Headingley want to keep their much-loved local Post Office.

Post Office petition returns

Post Office Ltd. have now responded to our letter asking them to call a halt to their plans. They say that they have had an expression of interest from a potential franchisee, and that they will consult the local community before any next moves.

Local campaigner Penny Goodman said:

This is my local Post Office, and like anyone who uses it regularly I can see how busy and well used it is. It seems disgraceful that Post Office Ltd. are planning on closing down this site. It is especially disappointing considering their promise to keep it open when they closed a number of other local post offices in 2008.

I don’t think a franchise is an appropriate replacement for a Crown Post Office and have replied to them stressing my opposition to this proposal. I will be continuing to campaign to keep a Crown Post Office in Headingley, as well as making sure that the massive local support for this post office is not ignored by the Post Office.

Add your voice to the petition here, and help us to show how strongly local people feel about this branch!

Headingley local election hustings

The Headingley Network have organised a hustings for this year’s local elections. The event will take place at the HEART centre in the Shire Oak Room from 7 to 9pm on Tuesday May 3rd.

Our candidate, Penny Goodman, will be there of course. Do come along if you would like to hear her speak about what she is standing for in Headingley, and to ask her your questions.

If you would like to submit a question, you can do this by placing it in the box currently available for the purpose in the foyer of the HEART centre. All questions must be received by 5pm on May 3rd, so that they can be sorted thematically. You should put your name and postcode on your question.

Out on the doorsteps: Ash Road

Yesterday evening the Headingley Liberal Democrat team went out on the doorsteps in the Ash Road area, speaking to local residents about the local elections coming up on May 5th.

Ash Road door knocking

Most people had already received their polling cards, and were looking forward to voting. We got a very positive response, with many residents wishing our candidate, Penny Goodman, good luck on the day.

Focus stories: The positive Liberal Democrat vision for Headingley

Penny war memorialOn Thursday 5th May there will be local council elections for Leeds City Council. The Liberal Democrat candidate for Headingley ward is Penny Goodman. These are some of the things Penny wants to achieve for our area:

Protecting green spaces: Penny is determined to fight to protect the remaining green spaces in our city from development. “All too often green spaces have been built on – such as Victoria Road playing fields. We must protect  these areas for the future and for the benefit of all who live in Headingley.” Read more about Penny’s efforts to protect green spaces here.

Introduce doorstep glass and food waste recycling: With a falling recycling rate in the city, Penny is fighting to get more doorstep recycling services offered to local residents. “I know that local residents want to do more to help the environment but the Council has to offer the services to help.” Read more about Penny’s campaign for doorstep glass and food waste recycling here.

Tackle poor broadband provision: Penny is campaigning hard to get broadband providers to improve their local  infrastructure. “Many students and people living locally have said they pay high bill prices but get poor broadband  speed. Companies need to act when customers are paying for the service.” Read more about Penny’s campaign for better broadband provision here.

New leaflet

This weekend, we are out delivering our new leaflet, along with an update on the campaign to save Headingley Crown Post Office. Look out for your copy!

New glossy

March glossy front smaller

March glossy back smaller  Post Office update smaller

Note: we aim to deliver a leaflet to every household in Headingley, but of course some addresses are inaccessible (e.g. flats with entry codes), and sometimes we just run out! That’s why we put our stories online as well. You can browse through them by following our ‘focus stories’ category.

Sights of Headingley: the Unoriginal Oak

Until May 1941, a gnarled old oak tree stood in the middle of Headingley. It can be seen on the left in this photograph from 1897:

Headingley, Yorkshire: St Michael's Church and the Shire Oak. Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Photograph by F. Frith, 1897.

Headingley, Yorkshire: St Michael’s Church and the Shire Oak. Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Photograph by F. Frith, 1897.

Sadly, it is long gone now, but this plaque records what happened to it, and the story of its original function:

Shire Oak plaque

In case you can’t read the plaque, which is a little eroded now, the text runs as follows:

In front of this tablet there existed the SHIRE OAK which collapsed from old age on the 26th of May 1941. This it is believed was the place of meeting where the Head of the Saxon Wapentake, the Local Government Unit, foregathered with his chief men. Leeds was in the Wapentake of Skyrack or Shire Oak.

The connection between this oak tree and the Skyrack wapentake was first suggested by the local antiquarian Ralph Thoresby in the early 18th century, and not everyone has accepted the theory. But it has certainly had an influence on the local topography, lending its name to the nearby Shire Oak Road, Skyrack pub and Original Oak pub.

In 1956, a replacement tree was planted near to the plaque, just outside the Original Oak’s beer garden:

Shire Oak tree

If the old tree was the Original Oak, then I suppose we have to think of this one as the Unoriginal Oak. 😉

Focus stories: Local clean-up success!

Working with local residents, Liberal Democrat campaigner Penny Goodman ensured that a neglected area of Ash Terrace was spruced up and made tidy.

Penny Goodman said:

Local residents had raised with me their concerns about the overgrown vegetation. I took the issue to the Council and they agreed to fix it up. Two truck-loads of greenery have now been taken away.

It was great to be able to work with residents to get the job done. If any other residents are having similar issues, please let me know.

See below for before and after pictures of the site:

Before...

Before…

...and after

…and after

Graffiti cleaned from Cumberland-Grosvenor ginnel

Graffiti is a persistent problem in Headingley. Recently, a resident reported that the ginnel between Cumberland Road and Grosvenor Road was badly affected by graffiti on the lamp-posts and the stone walls. We went to check it out and they were right! Every lamp-post was plastered with graffiti, and there were numerous scrawls on the stone wall too.

Cumberland Grosvenor ginnel 1

Cumberland Grosvenor ginnel 2

We reported this to the council’s graffiti team, who cleaned up the stone walls and asked Southern Electric (who look after the street lighting in Leeds) to deal with the lamp-posts. These pictures show the results – much better, I’m sure you’ll agree!

Cumberland Grosvenor ginnel 4

Cumberland Grosvenor ginnel 3

Response from Morrison Utility Services

Two weeks ago, we reported on some correspondence with Morrison Utility Services, a company who have been working on behalf of Northern Powergrid on Chapel Lane. A local resident contacted Penny Goodman to say that some of Chapel Lane’s Yorkshire stone paving had been stolen in the course of this work, so she wrote to the CEO of Morrison Utility Services, Charles B. Morrison, asking him to improve the company’s on-site security protocols and to replace the stolen paving. He wrote back very quickly to say that they would be conducting a full investigation, and that he would report back further when they had done so. This has now happened, and Penny has received a second letter detailing the outcomes of the investigation.

You can read the letter in full below, but as it is quite long, we will note the key points here:

  • The company removes unsecured stone paving stone each evening, and places it in a secure depot. This practice was followed as usual on Chapel Lane.
  • The stone which was stolen was not lying unsecured in stacks, but had been relaid into the pavement that day.
  • After the theft occurred on Friday 27th February, a mobile CCTV unit was put in place, which recorded a further disturbance on the site in the early hours of Saturday 28th February.
  • The company will be replacing the stolen paving with new Yorkshire stone slabs as soon as they can secure appropriate materials from their supplier.

The last point is particularly welcome, and we will be keeping an eye on the site to check that it actually happens. The seriousness of the company’s overall approach to the issue, and to Penny’s letter, is also good to see. But it is still clear that works like this are a major target for thieves. We would suggest that companies whose work involves disturbing Yorkshire stone paving should be putting CCTV in place on site before they start as a matter of course – not waiting until a theft has taken place.

It is also very clear that the thieves responsible for these crimes are working on an almost industrial scale. Another theft just a few days ago in Granby Road, where thieves similarly crow-barred up slabs directly from the pavement, confirms this. The only long-term solution to the problem will be to shut off the market for stolen materials which is clearly driving the crimes. Greg Mulholland’s Early Day Motion calling for legislation, a taskforce and an awareness-raising campaign, similar to the measures used to stop the theft and re-sale of scrap metal, has been an important step forward in that direction.

You can read Charles Morrison’s letter for yourself here:

MUS letter 1

MUS letter 2

MUS letter 3