Victoria Road playing field must not be built on!

A new planning application to build a gated residence for 262 students on the former Leeds Girls High School playing field on Victoria Road has caused widespread anger amongst local residents. Ever since the school left the area, the local community, led by the Hyde Park Olympic Legacy group, has been fighting hard to preserve both the on-site sporting facilities and the playing field for public use. They are badly needed in an area which has all too little of both.

Victoria Road 1

Local campaigner Penny Goodman and Greg Mulholland MP in front of the Victoria Road playing field.

But despite local opposition, outline approval for a development of 24 houses and a supermarket on the site was granted in 2014. Soon afterwards, the sports hall and swimming pool which had previously stood on the site were demolished.

Demolition in progress on the Victoria Road site.

Demolition in progress on the Victoria Road site.

Now, in a new twist, a further application for a 262-bed gated student residence has been submitted. Just like the previous application, this will rob the local community of much-needed green space, but this new proposal would also affect the local population balance by increasing the concentration of students in the area. Students are valuable members of the Headingley community, but diversity and balance are important too. It is not good for anybody to create student ‘ghettos’ anywhere in Leeds.

Penny Goodman has therefore submitted an objection to the new planning application, joining 25 local residents and Greg Mulholland MP in doing so. You can see her letter on the council’s Planning Applications website (search for application 15/05863/FU, and then go to the Documents tab), or read it here:

Victoria Road objection letter

Sights of Headingley: Hedley Verity’s house

Mention Headingley to anyone from outside Leeds, and their response is usually, “Oh yes – where the cricket stadium is.” But did you know that one of the most famous players ever to grace the stadium was also born locally?

Hedley Verity (1905-1943) was born in Welton Grove, and went on to play for Yorkshire and then England, storming the wickets with his left-arm bowling technique. Today, a blue plaque marks the house where he was born.

Hedley Verity house

Hedley Verity plaque

Sadly, Verity died at the age of only 38 from injuries sustained while fighting in Sicily during the Second World War. He is buried in Italy.

New bins at Lupton Residences

In late August, a resident on Alma Road told us that students often leave litter outside the entrance to Lupton Residences. They would probably love to be able to put it in a proper bin, but the problem has been that there wasn’t one! This photograph shows the results – wine-bottles, beer-cans and plastic cups lying around the entrance gate:

Lupton entrance 1

We raised the issue, and were told that the management of the halls would be installing a bin next to the entrance soon. But it’s been a while! This week, we chased the issue up – and a couple of days later, what do you know? Not one but two new bins are now in pride of place beside the path:

Lupton entrance 2

We’re really pleased to have helped sort this issue out. Having proper bins here is better for students and locals.

Focus stories: Labour’s housing targets are flawed

Headingley Liberal Democrat campaigner, Penny Goodman, and local MP, Greg Mulholland, are calling on the Labour-run Leeds City Council to review its housing targets after admitting they are inaccurate and too high.

Labour’s housing targets are too high, putting precious green space across Leeds under threat from development and will put strain on Headingley’s infrastructure.

Local MP, Greg Mulholland, has slammed the Labour-run Leeds City Council who closed the Royal Park School and are now seeing a crisis over school places in the area. Now Labour wants to build more homes in Headingley, but where will these families send their children to school?

Greg Mulholland MP said:

The housing allocations are based on what are now recognised to be flawed figures meaning more sites are identified for development than are required. I have called for affordable housing on brownfield sites to be prioritised and also campaigned in Parliament to give local people more say on planning issues by introducing a Bill in Parliament to balance the rights of developers and local communities.

The Liberal Democrats voted against the Core Strategy which set the housing target on Leeds City Council because it was inaccurate. Labour and the Conservatives voted for it.

Earlier this year Labour Councillors shocked local residents by voting in favour of allowing developers to build houses and a supermarket on the green playing fields off Victoria Road. The Liberal Democrat Councillor on the Plans Panel voted against following the community campaign with Penny and Greg.

The Council is currently carrying out a consultation with residents to hear their views on the proposed housing sites.

Penny Goodman said:

We understand the need for more affordable homes, but believe they should be on redundant brownfield sites and support the community. Labour needs to listen to the concerns of local residents, so we urge local people to take part in the consultation and have their say.

How you can have your say on the plans:

The Leeds City Council Site Allocations Plans public consultation runs for 8 weeks from 22 September until 5pm 16 November 2015.

You can comment on the plans online here.

Alternatively you can send written comments to: Planning Services, Leonardo Building, 2 Rossington Street, Leeds, LS2 8HD

When sending in written comments, please make sure your letter clearly states which sites you are writing about, preferably by quoting the plan reference number.

You can also sign Greg Mulholland’s petition calling on Leeds City Council to revise their housing targets and prioritise brown field land for the housing our community actually needs here.

Greg Mulholland takes action on Yorkshire stone thefts

Headingley residents are increasingly raising concerns about the theft of Yorkshire stone paving slabs in our area. We have heard about it several times during our regular doorstep survey sessions – for example, from residents living in the St. Michael’s Road area and The Turnways.

We also see the impact of the thefts all too often on the local pavements as we are walking around the area. Thieves simply turn up in vans and remove slabs directly from the pavements with crow-bars, leaving empty holes which are ugly and dangerous.

A patch of missing Yorkshire Stone in the pavement on Harold Grove.

A patch of missing Yorkshire Stone in the pavement on Harold Grove.

We have been working alongside local Liberal Democrat MP, Greg Mulholland, to find out what can be done about this issue. Greg investigated further, and discovered that West Yorkshire Police have recorded an 18% rise in thefts of Yorkshire stone in the last year. It is an organised crime, carried out by thieves with the intention of selling on the stone to rogue builders, and it is on the rise.

In response, Greg has now tabled a parliamentary Early Day Motion, calling on the government to tackle the issue through legislation, a taskforce and an awareness-raising campaign. Similar actions were used in the last parliament to stop the theft and re-sale of scrap metal, and have been effective. Greg’s motion raises the need to apply the same approach to the theft of Yorkshire stone, to stop this attack on our heritage.

The Yorkshire Post has reported Greg Mulholland’s action on this issue today, and you can also read the text of his Early Day Motion here.

Unsafe telephone cabinets reported

Over the past few days we have noticed two street telephone cabinets hanging open in Headingley. One was on St. Michael’s Lane, next to the junction with St. Michael’s Crescent:

St Michael's Lane cabinetThe other was on Ash Road:

Ash Road cabinet

Obviously this is dangerous because of the exposed wires, and it can’t be good for local people’s telephone and internet connections either! So Penny Goodman has written to Virgin Media, who own both cabinets, asking them to visit the sites and secure them.

Update 26/10/15: Virgin Media responded this morning, and will be securing the cabinets today. Great news!

October Focus

We’re starting to deliver our October Focus leaflet today. Watch out for yours!

October Focus

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.

Ash Terrace success

A couple of weeks ago, a resident got in touch to let us know about some unwanted weeds and trees which had grown up in the end of Ash Terrace. Penny Goodman went along to have a look, and then contacted the council to discuss what could be done about it.

The good news is that the council’s street teams responded quickly, and today the growth was all cleared away. Two whole truck-loads of greenery were removed.

The resident who originally raised the issue kindly gave us permission to share his pictures of the newly-cleared street. So Ash Terrace has gone from this:

Ash Terrace 2 To this:

ash terrace 3

What a change! We are really pleased to have helped get this sorted out, and are looking forward to supporting local residents in developing the community garden which they would like to establish here now that the weeds are gone.

Out on the doorsteps: The Turnways

The Headingley Liberal Democrat team spoke to residents in The Turnways and Laurel Bank Court this evening.

Canvassing 8 Oct 2015

We asked local people what issues were affecting the area, and found that several residents were concerned about overgrown vegetation and poor lighting in the alley-way between The Turnways and Headingley Stadium.

Another problem issue is thefts of Yorkshire stone paving slabs in nearby Headingley Avenue – one of the few roads on the opposite side of Kirkstall Lane which still has its original pavement. This is a common problem in Headingley, which is slowly eroding the character and heritage of the area. We will be working with Greg Mulholland MP to see what can be done about it.