By John Baron
Farnley & Wortley Green Party councillor David Blackburn has announced that he will be standing down at the local election in May.
Cllr Blackburn was elected as the first Green councillor in Leeds in 1998 in what was Wortley Ward. He continued to represent the Farnley & Wortley area for all but five months of the last 28 years.
Cllr Blackburn, 74, said he was stepping down due to ill health.
“It is with great sorrow that I announce my retirement, but I have been suffering with mobility problems for a while and recently I have been faced with other health problems,” he said.
“Bearing this in mind I have decided the right thing to do for my constituents, my party and myself is to stand down in May.
“It has been a great honour to represent the people of the Farnley & Wortley area for
over 27 years and, while I will miss doing it in future, it is time for me to go.”
Cllr Blackburn said he had enjoyed meeting and helping people over the years, but expressed frustration at the state of local government finances, particularly since the start of austerity in 2010.
“I would have loved to have served on the council when money wasn’t so tight,” he told WLD.
“It was tight in 1998 when I first started, but not as tight as it’s been since 2010. Since then it’s been all about fighting to keep services rather than making things move forward and improve. It’s been frustrating.”
As highlights of his time as councillor, he picks out rehousing Lower Wortley Community Centre into the old infants block at Lower Wortley Primary School, and working alongside Conservative Cllr Andrew Carter to move the council’s parks department into Farnley Hall, which was under threat of being sold at the time.
Cllr Blackburn has previously served as a scrutiny board chair, the chair of the Outer West Community Committee on several occasions and he sat on the decision-making Executive Board for three years.
For most of his time he served on either City Plans Panel or Plans West, and was chair of Roseville Enterprises and Green Leeds for several years.
At a national level Cllr Blackburn was the chair of the Steering Committee of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities for four years.
A Green Party candidate to stand in Farnley & Wortley ward at May’s Leeds City Council elections will be announced shortly.
All 33 council wards in Leeds will be contested at the elections.
Follow WLD’s coverage of the 2026 local elections here.
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