Voters in Bramley & Stanningley Ward will go to the polls on Thursday May 6, 2021 for the Leeds City Council elections. Voters will be electing one councillor.
More details about the election can be found here.
Your West Leeds Dispatch has contacted each candidate asking them for a statement of up to 300 words and a head and shoulders photograph to help you decide who to vote for. Here are their responses …
Elizabeth Anne Bee – Liberal Democrats
72 Waterloo Lane, Bramley, Leeds LS13 2JF.
Local politics will never be the same again after the pandemic.
Over the past months we have re-discovered the vital need for solidarity between citizens and the importance of local communities in making sure that those struggling to cope are helped.
The work done by Bramley Elderly Action in helping those in need has been vital and Liberal Democrats would support and help them and other community groups to thrive.
The pandemic has shown that public authorities play a crucial role in servicing local communities, and, when we are forced to confront what really matters, that human values are more important than making money.
As life starts to return to normal, we must not forget these points. There is also an urgent need for schemes to help local people use their creativity to find employment again.
Public transport for Bramley and Stanningley needs to be improved to encourage more people to use their cars less. At Bramley Station parking is totally inadequate and leads to surrounding streets being clogged with cars. When services return to normal there must be more and longer trains so that commuters have a chance of actually getting on the trains that stop at Bramley.
I believe that it is wrong at the moment to plan for an increase in air travel and oppose the expansion of the airport. More air traffic will mean more noise and air pollution over Bramley. Instead, we should be looking at reducing pollution levels wherever we can.
I want to see improve toilet provision at Bramley Centre, support safer streets and campaigns to reduce litter.
I believe it is important to live in the ward and share the life of the community and have lived in Bramley for 40 years. I hope you will be able to support me.
Adam Daniel Cook – Conservative Party
Address in Leeds.
Hello, my name is Adam Cook.
I have worked within the NHS for four years, and during Covid, on the front lines. Now let me be on the front line for you. For your priorities in Bramley and Stanningley’s, ensuring you and our area have a voice in the council.
Living within Bramley and Stanningley and raising a young family, it is fundamental for me to keep our green spaces, tackle anti-social behaviour and ensure your money is spent wisely by the council.
This pandemic has left many without work, reduced income and fearful of the future may bring. As your councillor I aim to reduce your council tax, making it easier for you to feed your family and ease your finically burden, work to regenerate the high street post-Covid, providing sustained jobs and investment in our area.
Another aim is reducing the cost of waste disposal and reducing fly tipping around the ward.
I am standing as your Conservative candidate as I want to serve you and your interests. I will fight tooth and nail for everyone in Bramley and Stanningley, making sure your roads are smooth, buses run on time, bins are emptied effectively and tackling anti-social behaviour.
Working for the NHS I have experience in dealing with a fast-changing environment and am fully committed to serving you as your councillor, making myself available as much as possible, holding regular surgeries with you, so that I can hear from you. Hear your issues, find solutions and get the problem solved.
If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to contact me on adam.candidate@outlook.com.
On 6 May, let your voice be heard. Vote Adam Cook.
Caroline Anne Gruen – Labour Party
474 Shadwell Lane, Leeds LS17 8BA.
Hello everyone, my name is Caroline Gruen and I’m standing for re election for Bramley and Stanningley Ward on 6th May.
I have had the honour and privilege of serving the communities of Bramley and Stanningley for nine years, during which time I have worked hard to make great changes in the ward and to represent your views fairly and honestly both locally and at the Civic Hall.
I am particularly proud of the influence I had, as a Trustee of Bramley Elderly Action, in securing the future of Bramley Community Centre, and Bramley Lawn Social Centre when they were under threat of closure.
Further achievements include establishing Bramley Hub when the library was under threat of closure and the war memorial at Bramley Park, both driven by community consultation.
I am passionate about the well-being of children and young people, and as the Inner West Children’s Champion I have ensured they have their say through our annual children’s summit, where they advise on how Council money should be spent on local activities for young people.
As the Chair of Governors at Leeds West Academy, a Governor at Hollybush Primary, and a member of the Bramley School Cluster, I have pushed hard for the best possible education for our children and students. This has resulted in extra activities for example the annual summer camp for local school children, held in the summer holidays.
This year, it is clear that COVID has hit the most vulnerable the hardest. Many have lost their jobs and pay, become homeless, and have had to use food banks more than ever.
If elected, I will work to make it easier to get a fairly paid job, to get more affordable homes for our residents, and I will continue to fight for more funding to benefit local people.
Clive Richard Lord – Green Party
1 Lilac Grove, Victoria Park Avenue, Leeds LS5 3AG.
Much as I would like to join the three elected Green councillors on the council, that is not the real reason you should vote for me.
The result in this ward is not likely to be in doubt, and under first past the post, in a ward safe for one party, any other vote is wasted. However, if I am elected, I shall strengthen a team of three which is in place, and has been functioning well for many years.
So you might as well use your vote to demonstrates something else.
My main concern is the reason why the Green party was founded in the first place. By giving the Green Party more votes than we are expected to receive, you indicate that you take the threat of climate breakdown seriously. You signal to the government that you wish they would pay more attention to such global threats.
This government behaves as though it is in denial of the deteriorating climate.
Greta Thunberg points out that world leaders make speeches which they do not follow up with action. and that the forces causing extreme weather events are still getting stronger.
Greens do have a local issue: airport expansion. Our Green councillors voted against it.
Even before Covid 19 severely limited international travel, it was obvious that if we (everybody) are to slow the rise in global temperatures, air travel will have to contract, not expand. But even before CV19. taking the climate into consideration, expansion was likely to be an expensive commercial mistake.
A stronger Green presence on the council would have other benefits. Air quality in Leeds city centre is among the worst nationally, and there are spots in Bramley & Stanningley which would benefit from less traffic and calming measures.
For anyone interested, my weblog is https://www.clivelord.wordpress.com
Daniel Paul Whetstone – Social Democratic Party
1 Cottingley Crescent, Beeston, Leeds LS11 0HZ
I am a 42-year-old husband, and father to a magical little boy. For the last ten years, I have been working with children that require special needs and until the pandemic changed things for us all, I was volunteering to help MINT, Men In Need Together. A support group for men based around mental health.
I used to play rugby, but I am comfortably retired now, and get enough thrills and drama watching Leeds Rhinos.
I am standing in the Bramley ward, because my family have been there all my life and I believe that it is time for a change.
I have lived in Leeds all my life, and know it is the best place in the world, and probably like you, I see so much potential in this corner of our great city.
However, I’ve voted for twenty odd years for something better, I’m yet to see it change for the better. We still talk about the same problems with little solutions put forward.
I believe in strong mental health support for our neighbours who need it most, and I also believe that more should be done to help the local businesses that can provide us all with quality, steady jobs.
As a father, I know we should also be doing much more to encourage kids to get outside and away from the TV. This is why I am a candidate for the Social Democrat Party (SDP).
They put families and communities at the centre of their platform, and have real, achievable policies to help them. We need to try something new, and I believe the SDP message of ‘Family, Community, Nation’ – coming together with our neighbours to build a better Bramley – is the way forward. We certainly can’t go on as we are.
West Yorkshire mayoral elections
West Yorkshire will also be holding its first elections for an elected mayor.
Here’s a list of candidates who are standing.