Inter-generational football at Bramley Park. Photo: Your Back Yard
Words: Kyra Rowe
Who wouldn’t want another report back about our second tournament of intergenerational walking football? (If you have not read about our first intergenerational walking football tournament, you can check out our blog post with all the details here!)
Earlier this month we were down at our constituted walking football team’s pitch in Bramley Park, playing games of walking football with the kids of Raynville Primary School.
After the pitch was cleared and marked out, and the goals were up – we were all set and ready to go!
Tony (Your Back Yard‘s director and upcoming walking football coach of the year!) kicked everyone off competitively with a fun warmup featuring ‘head, shoulders, knees, and toes’.
You may have guessed who won… but if you haven’t, the winner was younger than 11!
Everyone then split into four teams and the games commenced.
All the teams gave each other a run for their money, but the children of Raynville Primary were an undefeated squad (between you and I, this might have been down to a biased ref!).
However, Joy from Bramley Walking Wanderers was a scoring force, keeping the kids on their toes.
It was inspiring to see so many girls down with us to play walking football. We hope this engagement of girls will be something we continue to see in our upcoming sports and activities.
After the tournament ended, everyone left with a smile on their face and an even bigger belly after the kids were gifted with a healthy* goodie bag kindly provided by Val, the teams secretary.
I’m sure this is not the last of our intergenerational series of walking football so make sure you are keeping up to date with our social media posts.
If you are an institution working with children who would benefit from getting active and social with people from different generations, contact Your Back Yard.
Leeds Civic Hall. Photo: John Baron/westleedsdispatch.com
Words: Richard Beecham, local democracy reporter
Additional reporting: John Baron
Council tax increases, £16m of service cuts and an extra 211 new jobs have been approved as Leeds City Council passes its mixed bag of a budget for the coming year.
The plans confirm that, although the budget is set to increase by £86.7m on last year, around £16.5m of cuts still needed to be made to services due to spiralling costs.
According to latest proposals, the authority will have to shed 19 full-time equivalent job posts, but will create 211 new FTE jobs.
It also includes a council tax increase of 2.99 per cent – split between core council tax (1.99 per cent) and the adult social care precept (one per cent). This means council tax for a band D property will increase by £45.24 a year.
The council says it will use the budget to put further support into looked-after children, family mental health issues and care for vulnerable adults living at home.
But opposition councillors accused the ruling Labour group of not focussing enough on community safety, as many called for the reintroduction of extra community police funding.
Leeds Council leader James Lewis
Speaking at a full Leeds City Council budget meeting this week council leader James Lewis (Lab) said:
“The Conservatives skew public funding towards their own councils. This budget is set against a backdrop of cuts. Cumulatively the amount cut from council services for people in our district is £2.3bn.
“Council austerity is not over for us. This means more uncertainty for local resources, leaving us with a financial challenge. The chancellor wants local council tax to shoulder more of the burden.
“After 12 years of economic incompetence, we have a chancellor increasing taxes for working people while pay increases below inflation.
“Many people in Leeds were affected by poverty before Covid 19.”
Cllr Lewis reiterated the pledge to pay the real living wage of £9.90 an hour to employees. He said: “The last two years of the pandemic have been the most difficult many of us have known. Last month we topped the list of the most vibrant cities in the UK, while the number of new construction schemes in Leeds is the second highest.
“This budget sets out how despite the austerity agenda from Conservatives, we are investing in young people’s future.”
Responding to Coun Lewis, Conservatives group deputy leader Coun Alan Lamb (Con) said:
“Like an ageing rock star who hasn’t penned a hit for years, he relies on the old favourites. Hits like ‘cuts cuts cuts’.
“The Labour front bench is starting to resemble a dodgy Bucks Fizz reunion. The spending bucks they have borrowed have certainly lost their fizz.”
He went onto blame “financial incontinence” for the council’s current financial problems, citing the rising debt repayments, which add to around £30m in the coming year’s budget.
He added: “The financial challenge in Leeds was made in Leeds and made by Labour.
“Where has all the money gone? That is where we come to the decisions Cllr Lewis and his colleagues made when it comes to debt repayments.”
He outlined numerous proposed amendments to the council budgets – these included an extra £2m towards pilot homecare schemes, £1.65m to facilitate reductions in parking charge tariffs and an extra £240k towards ceasing bulky waste charges.
He added: “We have a much more positive vision for our city. We believe in the people and businesses of our city and want to unleash the potential. We would get the basics right.”
All opposition groups – Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Green, Morley Borough Independents and Garforth and Swillington Independents – submitted identical amendments, calling for £1.332m to be cut from the Leeds 2023 events budget and instead use that cash to fund extra PCSOs, which were cut in last year’s budget.
Coun Stewart Golton (Lib Dem) suggested the city’s fostering service could be run as a ‘John Lewis-style’ employee owned company adding:
“Too many of our young people have been placed in private foster care outside the area, far away from their families.”
Other amendments by the group include feasibility studies to look into reopening Marsh Lane rail station near the city centre. He added: “It will serve to reduce pressure on nearby stations.
“These new station proposals enjoy significant popular support from people in communities. Civic leaders seem to care only about HS2 provision in the city.”
The Lib Dems also included an amendment to buy up and renovate the Sugar Hill estate houses in Oulton, for which private developers are serving eviction notices. He said the council had behaved “appallingly” towards residents, and called on labour members to “vote with their hearts”.
Morley Borough Independents leader Coun Robert Finnigan said: “There are some good ideas coming from some of these amendments. At this particular point, there should be reflection and some process on how we have genuine partnership.”
Referencing the PCSO plans, he said: “The administration thinks we need more plays and more fine art. We think that is a load of Jackson Pollocks. Our residents need more police in their communities.”
He added he would “join the Sugar Hill Gang”, and support the Lib Dem amendment to buy up and renovate the Sugar Hill estate.
Garforth and Swillington Independents group leader Coun Mark Dobson said: “All too often we have a series of excuses. We have to endure the usual set of recriminations that it is someone else’s fault. Leeds 2023 to us reflects a cultural paternalism that too often finds favour in this council.”
Coun Lewis, summing up, said:
“I turn to Coun Lamb’s contribution on [council debt]. It was not putting off debt – it was knowing we had been overpaying on our debt.
“The Conservatives offered no alternatives. They never told us what their cuts would have been to cover the costs of [debts].
“When I look through their budget amendments, there is a lot of money from nowhere in there. They say they can make more money from selling assets in the city, but where is their secret list of buildings they want to sell?”
On the proposed amendment for the residents of the Sugar Hill estate, he suggested it would be unworkable.
“It would need £13m,” he said. “The Liberal Democrat amendment is for £4.9m. Coun Golton has not come clean. It is not enough money for what is needed. It is a cynical trick.
“This is a budget that takes our city forward and I am proud to move it.”
Pudsey Conservative councillors Trish Smith and Dawn and Simon Seary proposed an investment of over £1m, which would see the re-opening of the West Leeds Visitors Centre in Pudsey Park as well as the reinstatement of a city-wide mobile team of park and countryside rangers and a £500,000 investment pot to improve facilities in parks.
Cllr Smith, who is Shadow Executive Member for Parks and Countryside, said: “If approved, these amendments to Leeds City Council’s budget would yield tangible results to residents.
“Recent times have shown how important open spaces are to us all. We want to make improvements to our parks by investing half a million pounds across the city, but we also want to create an improved parks and countryside ranger service to help people feel safe and secure when visiting and to tackle quad bikes which have become a real problem in communities in West Leeds.
“The amendment would also see the popular West Leeds Visitors Centre re-opened in my Ward which I believe was a mistake in closing in the first place.”
West Leeds Dispatch‘s Cutswatch series has been following proposed council budget cuts and building sales over the past 12 months here.
Climate Action Leeds is an ambitious five-year programme funded by The National Lottery Climate Action Fund.
It provides a platform for people, organisations and communities to come together to take action on climate change, and the collective purpose is to help shape a Leeds which is zero carbon, nature friendly and socially just by the 2030s.
As part of the project community hubs are being set up around Leeds, with the support of Climate Action Leeds partner Together For Peace.
New shop: New Wortley Community Centre
Armley has been chosen as one of the areas for a community hub, and residents are beginning to come together to start having conversations about climate change and how it intersects with local issues such as keeping warm, eating well and managing waste.
Over the spring, Together for Peace will be supporting residents across Armley and New Wortley to form a local climate action group and start planning projects and design the Armley community hub together.
Joy Justice is currently working in Armley/New Wortley to bring people together around climate action, and will be at New Wortley Community Centre with the Climate Tea Trolley 1-2pm every Friday!
Make sure you pop down to the centre one Friday to have a chat with Joy about all things climate change. Alternatively you can contact Joy at joy@t4p.org.uk.
Groups like New Wortley Wombles are tackling issues with litter in the area.
Words: Georgia Stevenson
New Wortley Community Centre has launched its new Community Voice group.
The group is looking for local people to get involved in developing solutions to local issues with the support of the New Wortley Community Centre team and wider partners.
The group will meet monthly (in different locations) and work in a pro-active, collaborative way, building on what is already great about our communities.
Are you interested in having conversations with others to understand what is important to people living in New Wortley & Armley? Developing a community vision of aims and aspirations with other local people to build an enterprising community? Working with other like-minded people to take action to make the changes they want to see in the local area?
After a few lean years when there were only seven members, the group had a renaissance and its increased membership.
The group first held their meetings in Tong Road Community Centre, when a few like-minded people came together to discuss anything Wortley.
They moved into Green Lane School, then made their home in Whingate School buildings for a few years.
In 2006, due to the changes in the West Leeds Family Learning Centre based at Whingate school, the group moved once more and is now happily based in Whingate Methodist Church, Whingate.
The members meet to discuss and plan their annual calendar and leaflets, which feature old Wortley photographs and personalities/shops/pubs of a bygone era.
It is the intention of the group to build up within their archives, items that future generations can also look back on to their childhood and teenage years.
The group would like to hear from anyone interested in local history who would perhaps like to join the group, which is completely informal. Perhaps you may have photographs etc, which could be viewed and discussed at future meetings.
Most meetings are held on the fourth Monday in the month, depending on how Bank Holidays fall. They run in Whingate Methodist Church from 1pm to 3.30pm. Please feel free to visit the group where you will find Wortley photographs and various local leaflets of info from the past.
The next speaker, on Monday, 28 February, is former Thornhill School teacher Alun Pugh on the History of Leeds.
E-mail Rita at historygroupwortley@outlook.comfor more information about the group.
The local authority said plans are being hatched to retrieve the JCB digger and the equipment it was carrying when the river drops to a safe level.
While not as high as the floods caused by Storm Eva on Boxing Day 2015, the levels on the River Aire at Armley reached approximately four metres, only marginally lower than during Storm Ciara two years ago.
A council spokesperson said:
“With the second phase of works on the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme now well under way, investing a further £112.1million on flood prevention measures along the Kirkstall Corridor and upstream, measures were taken to move work equipment where possible.
“Unfortunately, due to the volume of water and speed of the river, estimated to be running at approximately 40 miles per hour, a construction pontoon broke free from its moorings and travelled downstream into the city centre.
“On its journey it badly damaged a service bridge near Armley Mills, which was due to be removed as part of the flood alleviation works, before breaking up as it reached the Dark Arches under Leeds Station.”
All footbridges and structures which the pontoon passed have been assessed and declared safe by council officers.
Weather conditions and river levels are now easing, but with further periods of extreme weather expected in the coming days all residents are advised to remain vigilant, and to check the latest information from the Environment Agency, weather and travel providers before making journeys.
Leeds City Council executive member for infrastructure and climate Councillor Helen Hayden said:
“We all remember the devastation caused by Storm Eva in 2015, and while conditions weren’t as serious this time it is very pleasing that our flood defence schemes proved effective in shielding people and properties from its impact. With extreme weather events becoming more frequent it is important we all do everything we can to be aware and keep everyone safe.
“The loss of the pontoon was unfortunate, but thankfully no-one was injured and it does serve to underline the need for us to get the second phase of the Leeds Flood Alleviation Scheme completed as soon as possible so we can be as protected as possible from threats like this.
“I’d like to thank everyone involved from all agencies in recent days for their efforts in very challenging conditions to keep people safe, and especially for those community volunteers and flood wardens who give up their time to help others and keep the city moving.”
Flood alerts from the Environment Agency can be set up free here along with weather warnings from the Met Officehere.
Kirkstall’s popular West End House finally received its delayed CAMRA Community Pub of the Year award for 2019.
The honour was shared on this occasion with the Chemic Tavern in Woodhouse, with the official presentation having been delayed for three years due to the coronavirus restrictions.
West End Leeds has finally received its award – three years on
Landlady Tammy Paton received the award from Leeds CAMRA chair Mike Hampshire. Mike said of the award:
“West End House is a fabulous community pub, giving the people living in the local area a great space to share. They have also been key financial supporters of local community groups and it’s well deserved that they won Leeds CAMRA’s Joint Community Pub of the Year Award for 2019.
“Although we were a few years late handing this certificate over, it was fully evidenced on the award night exactly the reason why the pub is still so deserving. Friendly staff and customers in a warm, welcoming environment. Of course, the beer was extremely well kept too.”
Tammy took over the West End House in 2017 and is pleased that their role in the community has been acknowledged:
“It was such an honour to win Community Pub of the Year 2019.
“It’s nice that our community recognises the work we do here as a team. But we just see it as giving back to them as much as they have given to us. As always it’s a pleasure to serve our community and we are here to help whenever we can.”
Winner: West End House, off Abbey Road, Kirkstall.
The West End House was established in 1867, the first licensee being William Tordoff, one of the Tordoff brothers who held licenses in premises across West Leeds, and has been part of the community ever since, with a list of prestigious landlords and landladies.
Current landlady Tammy took over from Paul Gill and Robert Trainor, who were incumbent for 25 years until their 2017 departure for pastures new.
The West End has pub quizzes every Tuesday and Thursday, Rock and Roll Bingo on Saturday nights and a highly rated food and beverage offering. Sky Sports and BT Sports show all major live sports action. WLD also holds regular community quiz nights there.
Opening hours are every day from noon till late. You can read more or book a table via the website or Facebook page.
Consumer organisation Which? is aiming to highlight the impact of lost access to cash in communities, raise awareness about the issue and encourage the government to take action.
They’re asking readers to e-mail local press about their concerns over their lack of access to cash following the closures of local banks. Here’s the second set of letters WLD has received so far – the first can be read here.
Dear Sir:
As a charity group treasurer, I too am very frustrated with the banking situation, not just in Armley, but also in Pudsey. In fact, it’s the whole ‘bank closures’ debacle.
However, there is a small ray of hope. There is a little known agreement with the Post Office.
You can do everyday banking there. Although it’s a short-term fix it is worth knowing.
Can I also use this email to send my big thanks to Swinnow Lane Post Office? Everyone is so helpful. Thank you!
Dianne Craven, Swinnow, by e-mail
Closure plans: NatWest Bank in Pudsey town centre.
Dear Sir:
I’d like to add my concerns over the ongoing closures of banks across West Leeds. The latest to go is the NatWest in Pudsey, as WLD reported last December. There have been others in recent years, too.
Sadly those who are hardest hit are the more vulnerable in society, like the elderly, who struggle to access online banking. I know a number of pensioners who have been bewildered by branch closures and asking for advice on what they should do.
It also makes it more difficult for local small businesses to deposit their takings.
The banks simply don’t realise the devastating impact of their decisions on the community and the high street.
Janet Fielding, by e-mail
Got a view you’d like too share? E-mail your letters to news@westleedsdispatch.com.
In the overdue return of our ‘Penny Pinching’ column from a community reporter in Armley, this week the ‘Auld Git’ offers simple tips how to tackle the rise in energy costs…
A fictional character, Mr Micawber, once gave David Copperfield some sage advice: “Annual income £20, annual expenditure £19-19 shillings & 6d (sixpence).
“Result: happiness
“Annual income £20, annual expenditure £20-&6d.
“Result: misery.”
Mr Micawber spent most of his fictional life in debtors’ prison.
Today’s household expenditure is leaving most of us in misery. ‘Im indoors is wandering round in total misery mumbling things like “no more tumble drying” and “Blackpool illuminations”.
We are all worried about the hike in energy costs. So I’ve a few tips that could help.
Turn your thermostat down a couple of degrees and put thick socks and a big fluffy dressing gown on when you’re in the house. If you’re sat watching television snuggle under a cozy blanket.
Generally we think about turning the heating off as we go to bed. I have to confess I’m guilty of this, however if the heating is turned off an hour before bed time you will still be warm until you climb into bed.
If you and your little cherubs are always rushing in a morning for school and work do you really need to put the heating on ?
This can save quite a lot on your heating bill.
‘Im indoors is getting used to wearing socks and a sweater, no more turning the heating up.
Another idea is using a ‘sausage’ across the bottom of the doors. Don’t be like ‘im indoors – pork sausage are not suitable for this, the dog eats them.
Take an old pillow, roll it up lengthways and secure it. Job done. Now place it against the bottom of the door it will keep draughts out and heat in. If you want to be posh you could make a cover for it but it’s not necessary.
Use your tumble dryer less and dry your washing on radiator racks or use a kitchen maid. This is a rack that can be raised to the ceiling with washing on it to dry. Putting this on your landing is useful as warm air rises and your unmentionables are out of sight of your visitors.
Next time I’ll cover commando showers, closing curtains and slow cooking
Until then, be like the ‘auld git’ and ‘im indoors: cheap and cheerful!
Application: Armley Food Centre on Town Street. Photo: Google
An application by an Armley shop owner to change the hours he can sell alcohol has been opposed by police, councillors and the local MP.
Mr Shamil Khalil runs Armley Food Centre in Town Street and wants to change the hours he sells alcohol to the earlier time of 8am to 10pm daily. Mr Khalil currently has a licence for 9am to 11pm.
Mr Khalil had originally applied for a licence to sell alcohol between 7am and 1am daily but has reduced the proposed new hours following the objections. The application has a number of operating conditions attached including CCTV operation and a Check 25 policy on under-age drinking.
But even with the reduced hours, his application has been opposed by police, Leeds West MP and all three Armley councillors.
They say the Town Street area is subject to a cumulative impact policy, which limits new licensing applications due to ongoing problems with street drinking and anti-social behaviour in the area.
A council report accompanying the application states: “An applicant wishing to vary a licence for premises which fall within any of the cumulative impact areas must identify, through their operating schedule, the steps they intend to take so that the council and responsible authorities can be satisfied that granting this variation would not add to the impact already being experienced.”
A second public consultation has been launched into a shake-up of England’s electoral map, which could see Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Leeds West constituency disappear.
The proposals, first announced last year, would see the Leeds West constituency become obsolete, with its wards divided into other constituencies.
A new-look Pudsey Borough constituency would include Bramley, Calverley, Pudsey and Farnley & Wortley wards.
The Pudsey seat would lose the current communities of Horsforth, Guiseley and Rawdon, which would move into a revised Leeds North West County Constituency.
A new Headingley Borough constituency would include Armley, Kirkstall, Headingley and Weetwood.
Proposed Pudsey Borough Constituency map
Proposed Headingley Constituency
Since 2010 Leeds West has had Labour’s Rachel Reeves as its MP and Pudsey has had Conservative Stuart Andrew.
The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) is now inviting comments during its secondary public consultation on constituency boundaries, which is open until 4 April 2022.
The Commission is undertaking an independent and impartial review of all constituencies in England, to make the number of electors in each constituency roughly the same. The number of constituencies in England will also increase to 543.
The 2023 Boundary Review requires substantial changes to the map of constituencies across England, and the Commission wants members of the public to help shape the boundaries in their area by taking part in a consultation, running 22 February – 4 April.
View the initially proposed constituency boundaries for your area and provide views on them by visiting the consultation website. Responses can also be sent in by letter, e-mail or provided in person at a public hearing.
The Commission will hold 32 public hearings across the country throughout the consultation period, allowing members of the public to have their say in person about the proposed changes in their area.
Book a 10 minute slot to speak at a hearing in Leeds on either 10 or 11 March 2022 on the Boundary Commission website. A video of each hearing will be available to watch on the Boundary Commission for England’s YouTube channel shortly after it has taken place.
The Commission received over 34,000 responses from the public during its first consultation last year. These comments are now available to view by area, along with the initial proposals for constituencies, on the consultation website.
Secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, Tim Bowden, said:
“The 2023 Boundary Review will rebalance the number of electors represented by each MP. It’s important that the constituencies we shape reflect your local community as best as possible. We received over 34,000 responses during our first consultation last year which are available online for the public to read and comment on. We’re inviting more people to have their say in our current secondary consultation, which is open now until 4 April.”
The BBC reports that the proposals would be the first major overhaul of seat boundaries in England since 2010, with just under 10% of existing constituencies remaining unchanged.
Unlike previous reviews, the total number of seats in the House of Commons will stay at 650 but population changes mean England is set to have 543 MPs, Wales 32 and Scotland 57 – that is an extra 10 for England, with Wales losing eight and Scotland’s count cut by two.
Previous boundary proposals
The current proposals come after plans first proposed by the former Conservative prime minister David Cameron to cut 50 seats were dropped by the government in March 2020 because of the “Brexit workload”.
These plans also proposed the loss of Leeds West and a revised boundary for Pudsey. They were slightly different, with Kirkstall, Burley and the Hawksworth Wood estate – which currently operate under Leeds West – coming under the Leeds North West seat alongside Horsforth, Yeadon, Otley and others. Farnley and Wortley would have moved out of Leeds West and become part of the Leeds Central constituency and Pudsey would have gained Armley and parts of Bradford Moor and Laisterdyke in Bradford, as well as Bramley, Pudsey, Swinnow and Rodley.
Members of the We Are Bramley project at Broadlea Community Centre.
Words: Lucy Meredith
We are Bramley is one of the 20 artist commissions that were chosen for Leeds 2023 year of culture as part of the ‘My World, My City, My Neighbourhood’ project.
‘We Are Bramley, Acts of Defiance’ came to life from a proposal devised by arts and wellbeing organisation Yorkshire Life Aquatic CIC (YLA).
Yorkshire Life Aquatic, which was co-founded by Lucy Meredith and Zoe Parker, started life at Bramley Baths back in 2013, just as the Baths themselves were becoming a community led space.
After running some successful pilot synchronised swimming classes at the baths, Zoe and Lucy formed Bramley Mermaids Club, which has now in its eighth year and still going strong.
Yorkshire Life Aquatic makes collaborative art projects in unusual spaces and have always had a fondness for working in Bramley, running projects with Bramley Elderly Action and BARCA as well as their Immersive performance ‘Mermaid Tales’ in 2015.
This saw them take over the whole of Bramley Baths and turn it into an interactive exhibition space, complete with a beach, mermaids and fish & chips.
We are Bramley, acts of defiance is a co-production between Yorkshire Life Aquatic and the Bramley community.
Lucy and Zoe say they feel really inspired by Bramley, especially the determination of the community when faced with adversity. Bramley has made headlines through positive acts of defiance like taking over Bramley Baths when it was threatened with closure and turning it into a successful community lead space. Also the recent ‘Place to Sit’ campaign to reinstate the benches at Bramley Shopping Centre.
Lucy and Zoe have been holding meetings to chat with local people about what cultural things they would like to see, do or be part of that reflects the area.
They have hosted meetings online and in person to gather ideas and themes that local people want to build on for 2023 Year of Culture.
Zoe says:
“We have had lots of great suggestions so far. Art trails were already something the community were interested in creating, so we are developing a walk that highlights local legends: the famous or infamous people, places and moments that reflect the character of Bramley.”
The ‘We are Bramley’ showing event will take place on Saturday, April 30 so do save the date.
They would really love to hear more about local places and people of interest – who or where is your local legend? What are your memories of positives acts defiance in Bramley? If you are interested in finding out more about the project or have a story to share about your memories of Bramley?
Bramley Baths and some of the Bramley mermaids feature in Leeds 2023’s new video ‘A year to go’ video:
