Christmas lights, support for ‘In Bloom’ groups and new ‘natter benches’ will all receive council funding, councillors have agreed.
Members of the Outer West Community Committee agreed to some initial pots of funding to support the activities of community organisations and activities across three council wards – Calverley & Farsley, Pudsey and Farnley & Wortley.
From this year’s budget the committee decided to money towards natter benches in both Calverley and Farsley.
Natter benches are extended public seats allowing people to socially distance and talk. The meeting heard a resident had offered to part-fund one bench in Calverley’s Victoria Park to meet part of the cost, with the committee funding the remaining amount.
Councillors also agreed to fund one Westroyd Park memorial garden in Farsley. Cost for both is around £3,300 in total, with final costs to be confirmed. Two similar benches are due to be installed in Pudsey, following a fundraising campaign.
Councillors said supporting town centres and local businesses which have been hard hit by three national lockdowns and other restrictions were essential, which is why support was being given to Christmas lights and carnivals, which draw people to businesses.
Out of the next financial year’s wellbeing budget, councillors agreed to ringfence funding for:
- £3,194 to Calverley in Bloom
- £2,960 to Farsley in Bloom
- £1,000 to New Farnley in Bloom
- £5,001 to Pudsey in Bloom.
The meeting also agreed to ringfence funding for wellbeing projects which re-occur each year.
- Calverley Xmas Lights, £2,625.
- Farsley Xmas Lights, £6,180.
- Pudsey Xmas Lights, £9,530.
- Rodley Xmas Lights, £1,800.
- Pudsey Carnival, £2,600.
- Site Based Gardener, £13,807.
- Outer West CCTV, £11,000.
And from the youth activities fund, councillors agreed to ringfence funding for:
- DAZL Outer West Programme, £3,427.
- Andy’s Youth Project Youth Service, £2,400.
- Farnley Youth Club Project, £1,250.
- Pudsey Youth Café, £2,240.
- Farnley Football Project £875.
- Farsley Festival, £4,350.
- Breeze Friday Night Project, £10,154.
The committee also approved £150 from this year’s budget for hessian bags to store sand in bid to prevent future flooding in Troydale. This follows on from Farmac’s donation of sand to help hold back flooding a couple of weeks ago.
And £130 was given to three time capsules in Pusey for memorabilia relating to lockdown in past year.
E-bikes approved for police
Calverley and Farsley ward councillors have approved funding of over £5,000 to buy two new electric bicycles (or e-bikes) for local West Yorkshire Police officers and a project to provide crime prevention advice and tools to residents.
Ward Councillors Andrew Carter and Amanda Carter approved over £2000 for each bike, which have been welcomed by West Yorkshire Police. The e-bikes are being adopted by more and more forces across the country, in both urban and rural areas where tracks and ginnels are inaccessible to traditional vehicles.
Officers will also benefit from the enhanced range and speed whilst on patrol, all of which does not come at a cost to the environment as they produce zero emissions.
The Councillors also approved a further £900 to provide WYP’s Crime Prevention Officers with a number of simple-to-fit crime reduction tools such as door alerts, window jammers and vibration alarms that can be distributed to residents along with advice to help prevent them becoming the victims of crime.
Councillor Amanda Carter, Outer West Community Committee Chair, said:
“I am really pleased to help with the purchase of these new e-bikes and hope that they will be a great help to officers in our communities. These new e-bikes will really improve officers’ abilities whilst out on patrol, helping them travel much further, faster, which could make all the difference in some situations.
“The sight of a ‘bobby on the beat’ is still one of the most forceful deterrents and I hope that these bikes will make it easier for Officers to be actively seen in the community.”
£5,139 of funding was approved by the councillors from Calverley and Farsley’s
Community Infrastructure Levy funds.
