Unwanted growth on Ash Terrace

A resident recently got in touch to say that a clump of unwanted weeds and small trees had grown up in accumulated soil at the end of Ash Terrace, a cul-de-sac which intersects with Chapel Street. This is making the street look neglected, and if the trees are allowed to keep growing it will damage the cobbles underneath and probably also the pavements on either side and the wall behind.

Local campaigner Penny Goodman went along today to take some pictures, and discuss ways to help the local residents get the unwanted growth cleaned up.

Ash Terrace 2

Ash Terrace 1

We’ll now be talking to the council to see what can be done here, and to help the residents realise their long-term ambition for the closed-off end of this street – a community garden set into a raised bed.

Liberal Democrat autumn 2015 conference

This week the Liberal Democrats held their annual autumn conference in a beautifully-sunny Bournemouth. Headingley campaigner Penny Goodman was there, and took part in the conference photo-board on the theme of #OurLibDemValues. Here’s what liberalism is all about for Penny:

2015-09-19 15.24.34-1

It was a great conference, but the absolute highlight was Tim Farron’s leader’s speech on the final day. It was his first in the role, but long-term conference-goers agreed that it had been one of the best speeches ever delivered by any Liberal Democrat leader. You can watch it for yourself here:

Penny Goodman selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Headingley in May

Yesterday evening, Leeds North West Liberal Democrats held a hustings for candidates hoping to represent the party at the Leeds City Council elections in May 2016. Penny Goodman, who lives on Grove Lane, was selected by the local party to stand as the candidate for Headingley ward.

Penny said:

I am thrilled to have been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Headingley. I have lived in Headingley for nine years now, and it is a fantastic community. It’s diverse, vibrant, active and engaged, and has something to offer for everyone.

But it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Headingley’s Labour councillors aren’t doing everything they could to help the community and protect its interests. On the doorsteps, residents constantly report concerns to me about bins and graffiti, which I have been able to tackle on their behalf. But why aren’t the Labour councillors dealing with these issues properly? It is supposed to be part of their job.

Headingley can do better than this, and the record of action which I have already built up shows what I could do for this community if I am elected next May.

Penny and Greg

Local candidate Penny Goodman with Greg Mulholland MP

Headingley Taps success

Two weeks ago, residents on Wood Land and Alma Road told us that there was a lot of mess and rubbish around the recycling bins outside the Headingley Taps pub. We raised this with the council, and today they reported back that the mess has been cleaned, and measures put in place to ensure that regular cleaning now happens whenever the bins are emptied. Great news!

On the same evening, residents also raised concerns about the entrance to the Lupton student residences, where students often leave litter on the pavement while waiting for taxis, because there is no proper bin to put it in. We’re pleased to report that the management of the halls have now agreed to install a new bin at this location. The bin itself is yet to appear, though. We will be checking back regularly until it does!

Out on the doorsteps: opposite the Arndale

Today, the Headingley Liberal Democrats met up opposite the Arndale Centre to speak to residents in the streets nearby, including Dennistead Crescent, Alma Cottages, Chapel Street and Ash Terrace.

Canvassing 10 Sept 2015

On Chapel Street and Ash Terrace in particular, almost everyone we spoke to was deeply unhappy about the situation with their green bins. They said that collections have been stopped as part of the Labour council’s pilot scheme to remove dedicated recycling in the area and use automatic sorting instead to filter out recyclable material from black bins. But the old, empty green bins have not been removed, and are now causing a serious blockage on the pavement. Meanwhile, one resident asked several times for opt-in recycling bags, but has received nothing.

After we had finished speaking to the residents, Penny Goodman took some pictures of the problem:

Abandoned green bins Chapel Street

Chapel Street bins 1

Chapel Street bins 2

That’s all on one street – and not a very long one, either! No wonder residents are feeling fed up.

Elinor Lupton Building let-down

A few weeks ago, local campaigner Penny Goodman wrote to Wetherspoons, asking them to clean up the Elinor Lupton Building on Headingley Lane. Their Acquisitions & Estates Manager responded quickly, saying that he would instruct contractors to undertake the work. But all that’s happened since is that the hedge in front of the building has been cut down, and some of the rubbish cleared away.

Elinor Lupton 7

This isn’t really what we had in mind when we called for a clean-up! If anything, the building looks worse now, because the graffiti affecting the front is more visible.

Elinor Lupton 6

Penny Goodman therefore wrote back to the Wetherspoons Acquisitions & Estates Manager to ask when the graffiti would be cleaned away. But this time his reply was that Wetherspoons would not be removing the graffiti until they go in to develop the building.

Planning permission for Wetherspoons to convert this building into a pub has not been granted yet, and development cannot start until it is. Given the scale of local opposition to the plans, that could take a very long time! But Wetherspoons already own the building, so its condition is their responsibility.

We think that if they want to show their willingness to make a positive contribution to the local community in Headingley, they should clean up the building properly now – regardless of the outcome of the planning process.

Is the trolleybus scheme delaying safety improvements?

Recently we raised two sets of road safety concerns with the council’s Highways & Transportation department: bicycle accidents on Headingley Lane and cars going the wrong way along the one-way stretch of Alma Road.

Council officials have now responded on both issues, and have agreed that the concerns are real. The stretch of Headingley Lane between Hyde Park corner and Bainbrigge Road has seen 40 accidents in the past five years – a rate which is 276% the national average for a road of this kind. Meanwhile, traffic surveys on Alma Road in 2009 and 2012 recorded an average of 28 vehicles every day travelling in the wrong direction on the one-way stretch closest to the A660.

These are serious issues, then.

However, we noticed a common theme in the council officials’ responses. They stated that both roads are due to be affected by the NGT trolleybus route if the project is implemented, changing them substantially and improving their safety.

But a decision is yet to be made about the trolleybus. The results of a six-month-long public enquiry are not expected until later this year, or even early in 2016. And of course the eventual result may be that the scheme is abandoned.

It sounds to us as though the uncertainty around the trolleybus scheme is delaying measures which are needed now to improve street safety in Headingley. The local community is already strongly opposed to the trolleybus, and certainly shouldn’t have to wait until it is installed for Headingley’s streets to be made safer.

Out on the doorsteps: Wood Lane and Alma Road

This evening Penny Goodman and the Lib Dem team spoke to residents on the doorsteps on Wood Lane and Alma Road. These are some of the surveys they completed, telling us their priorities and concerns.

Surveys collected 19 Aug 2015

Several residents were unhappy about the number of cars which drive the wrong way along Alma Road – supposedly a one-way street. We also heard about two areas regularly affected by litter: the recycling bins in front of the Headingley Taps, and the Alma Road entrance to the Lupton student residences, where there is currently no bin, and students often leave litter on the pavement while waiting for taxis.

We will be working on all these issues, and will report back here with any progress.

Success on Alma Road

A couple of weeks ago, we discovered that there were four telephone cabinets on Alma Road in need of a graffiti clean-up. We reported the problem, and the good news is that three of the cabinets have now been repainted. Local campaigner Penny Goodman models this season’s ‘in’ colour – olive green:

Cabinet after 3

Cabinet after 1

Cabinet after 2

The remaining uncleaned cabinet belongs to British Telecom. We will be chasing them up to make sure that it too gets a fresh coat of paint.

Out on the doorsteps: along Headingley Lane

Penny Goodman and the Headingley Liberal Democrat team were out on the doorsteps in Spring Bank Crescent, The Poplars and Orville Gardens this evening. We spoke to residents about their local concerns, and asked them to fill out a survey showing their priorities for the area.

Canvassing 19 Aug 2015

Residents in this part of Headingley were particularly concerned about Leeds Labour Council’s plans to build a trolley-bus along Headingley Lane, and the planned Wetherspoons’ pub in the former Elinor Lupton Centre.

Greg Mulholland MP has raised serious concerns about the trolley-bus scheme. He feels that Leeds should be free to spend the money ear-marked for the trolley-bus on the best transport system for the city – not a second-best option. Meanwhile, local campaigner Penny Goodman has called on Wetherspoons to clean up the Elinor Lupton Centre.

Several residents also commented on the number of traffic accidents which happen on Headingley Lane, particularly involving bicycles. We will be raising this with the council.