By John Baron
Councillors have agreed to support popular community festivals in Armley and Kirkstall – but at reduced levels.
Armley Festival requested up to £10,210 from the council’s Inner South West Community Committee and councillors agreed a £5,000 grant for the annual event on Armley Moor in September.
Kirkstall Festival organisers asked the committee for a grant of £7,250 (£2,250 from Armley ward councillors and £5,000 from Kirkstall).
The committee agreed on the £5,000 from Kirkstall councillors, but Armley war members Andy Parnham (Lab) and Lou Cunningham (Green) declined to provide £2,500, saying the event was not in their ward and that they needed to focus their funding there.
Councillor Hannah Bithell (Lab, Kirkstall) said she respected their decision, but labelled it ‘unreasonable’ as Kirkstall Festival draws people from across the city and that other areas should contribute towards its costs. She suggested a joint meeting moving forward.
Cllr Parnham said it was a ‘difficult’ decision, but said he had to ensure festivals in his own ward – Armley and New Wortley – were sustainable first. He suggested support for Kirkstall Festival should be discussed across the wider council, given the event’s city-wide draw.
Cllr Cunningham said she would provide some of her MICE money (Members’ Improvements in the Community and Environment) to this year’s Kirkstall Festival.
The total cost of Kirkstall Festival – the second biggest community festival in Leeds – is £50,000.
The Inner South West Community Committee is made up of councillors for Armley and Kirkstall wards, plus Beeston & Holbeck and Hunslet & Riverside wards.
Other grants approved by the committee, which met last yesterday evening in Leeds Civic Hall, include:
- £7,375 towards continuing the popular Armley Leisure Centre Youth Space.
- Kirkstall Art Trail was granted £4,000.
- £1,655 towards funding a foodbank at The James McKenna Community Hub in New Wortley, run by Leeds North & West Foodbank.
- £1,050 towards Art and Digital Wellbeing sessions in Armley, run by The Highrise Project.
- Kirkstall School Transition Club and Boxercise received £5,415.
- £3,415 towards police resource to tackle anti-social behaviour and road safety in Armley and Kirkstall.
- £1,000 to Armley Community Hub events.
- Armley Basketball Project – which offers basketball to younger people – received £3,120.
- Shrub planting at Morris Wood received £1,200.
- Armley/Kirkstall Session Resources and Holiday Provision 2026 received £4,140
- £5,900 was conditionally granted towards a mural on Kirkstall Bridge for a young people’s project run by We Belong Here CIC, subject to securing written permission from Network Rail.
The committee is also responsible for council functions such as street cleaning and youth services, as well as funding large and small projects and initiatives.
View the meeting in full here:
- Read the full agenda and report pack on the Leeds City Council website here.
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