Make your voice heard

May 6 is just around the corner – if you are voting by postal vote or voting on the day make sure that you vote for the candidate that will best represent our local community.

To help you with that decision – please check out the letter below, which explains why voting for Brandon, as your local Liberal Democrat candidate, will ensure that your voice will finally be heard in Headingley & Hyde Park.

Dear friend,

On 6 May 2021, you have the chance to change Headingley & Hyde Park for the better.

As your Liberal Democrat candidate, I want to fight for our community as your representative on Leeds City Council. I am committed to ensuring that Headingley & Hyde Park is:

GREENER by opposing the expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport in the face of a climate emergency, pushing for better, greener public transport services and introducing kerbside glass and food waste collections.

CLEANER by ensuring that our bins are collected on time, fly-tipping is cleared efficiently, and graffiti is removed.

SAFER for women to walk the streets freely without fear by pushing for the Council to invest in better street lighting and to retain funding for our hard-working Police Community Support Officers.

More of the same or time for change?

For nearly 10 years under Labour, the residents of Headingley and Hyde Park have seen rubbish piling up, graffiti getting out of control, and noise nuisance going untackled.

The Liberal Democrats in Leeds have a strong record of opposing the Labour-run council in the chamber.

By voting Liberal Democrat on 6 May, you can send a strong message to Labour that our community deserves better.

With best wishes,

Brandon Ashford

PS: Remember if you are using a postal vote, you can cast it as soon as you receive your ballot.

End Fuel Poverty

Brandon has signed the End Fuel Poverty Pledge!

Ensuring that people have high quality and energy efficient homes is one of the best ways to raise the standard of living whilst keeping costs to residents and the environment down.

Fighting to end fuel poverty is not only the logical thing to do but is the morally right thing to do.

Earth Day 2021

This Earth Day, we want to take the opportunity to reflect on how Brandon and your local Liberal Democrats are working to help protect the environment during this climate emergency:

1. Protecting our green spaces such as Woodhouse Moor to keep them clean, green, and safe for everyone.

2. Continuing to oppose the expansion of Leeds-Bradford airport.

3. Scrapping the DIY tax to help stop fly-tipping.

4. Adopting kerbside glass recycling across Leeds.

In the local elections: a vote for Brandon is a vote for a cleaner, greener, and safer Headingley & Hyde Park.

Leeds Bradford airport expansion put on hold

It is good news to hear that the expansion of Leeds Bradford airport has been put on hold for now. We are in a climate emergency and expanding the airport risks damaging our environment even more. Not to mention the additional noise pollution that will happen over our community due to the increase in flight numbers.

The Labour council are willing to sacrifice our environment and the peace and quiet of those living under the flight path – the Liberal Democrats are not!

We will continue to oppose the expansion of the airport and call on all parties on Leeds City Council to fully stand with us.

Leeds City Council Budget Day

Yesterday was Budget Day on Leeds City Council. The Liberal Democrat group brought a range of budget amendments to the table, putting a particular emphasis on the need to tackle climate change. Some of the key Liberal Democrat proposals were:

Set up a £3 million Leeds Climate Emergency Fund for citizen schemes to create a carbon neutral city
Introduce a city wide food waste collection service, & build an anaerobic digester to recycle more & use that waste to power Council vehicles.
End charges for replacement bins, bulky waste collection and DIY waste tax at Council tips to stop penalising people who want to get rid of waste responsibly.
Introduce the rollout of doorstep glass collection, as bottle banks exclude those without a car and the disabled.
Invest in a new children’s residential care home so less of our children are placed in care outside their home city.
Look into creating an employee owned foster care agency to rely less on expensive profit-motivated private sector agencies.
Look into a city centre workplace charging levy to fund public transport improvements
End car parking charges in Otley town centre to promote a free parking guarantee for all our district centres for better access to local shops.
Respond to local flooding risks posed by the city’s 1500 blocked gulleys and reduce the current 15 year backlog on gulley clearance by doubling the size of the response team.
Increase the city’s Forestry Team to tackle the treeworks backlog, and better prepare for massive tree planting in response to carbon reduction.
Employ an extra 9 civil enforcement officers dedicated to outer areas in response to the citywide rise in dog fouling and illegal parking.
Increase access to electric vehicles for households without driveways by installing 100 residential street charging points.
Enabling lower income households to access electric vehicles through piloting a community care share scheme.
Dedicate funding to look at introducing new train stations at Methley and Woodside Quarry to relieve pressure on nearby stations.
Transform community teams to better accommodate community social and cultural activity to reduce isolation and stimulate local economies.

We were disappointed to see Leeds’ Green councillors joining with the Labour and Tory parties to vote down our proposed Climate Change Fund.