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.

Mega-pub licence refused

The news came on Friday that an application to turn the former Elinor Lupton Centre into a licensed premises serving 500+ customers at a time has been refused. The full story is covered here in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

This is welcome news, given how strongly local people have objected to turning the Elinor Lupton Centre into a mega-pub. Headingley is already very well-provided with licensed premises, and the council has recognised their negative impact on local people through the Cumulative Impact Policy. This establishes a presumption against adding any new pubs to the area, and it is good to see that the policy was respected on this occasion.

Meanwhile, the building itself is now in an appalling state, and getting worse by the day. Local campaigner Penny Goodman has called on Wetherspoons, who now own the building, to take responsibility for its current condition and clean up the graffiti which is plastered all over it – but they refused. This is a Grade II listed building which could be a huge asset to our community. We can only hope that a positive use for the building, which respects the needs and interests of local people, can be found soon.

Elinor Lupton 1

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

Focus stories: Elinor Lupton needs a clean up

Penny Goodman and the local Liberal Democrat team are asking Wetherspoons, the new owners of the Elinor Lupton Centre, to clean up the building.

This grade 2 listing building is covered in graffiti and is currently an eyesore rather than a landmark Headingley residents can be proud of.

The local Liberal Democrat team has supported proposals by Leeds Music Hub to use the building as a music and arts space and has expressed concern at it being turned into a pub.

Elinor Lupton 2

Focus stories: cleaning up our area

Local Liberal Democrat campaigner, Penny Goodman, is taking action to clean up our area!

Penny has successfully got graffiti cleared up in a number of streets, including Bennett Road and Alma Road. And thanks to her quick action, Penny has secured a new litter bin at the entrance to the Lupton Residences.

The local Liberal Democrat team also took action to get the rubbish cleared up from around the recycling bins at the Headingley Taps.

Why aren’t Headingley’s Labour Councillors tacking these issues?

Local residents know that Penny and the Lib Dems get things done in our area. If you spot any issues, please contact us.

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

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.

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.