It’s always a good feeling when something you’ve worked on comes to fruition. Especially when it has taken a few years.
Anyone who has ever really got to know a local Councillor knows that they never truly go on holiday. To let you into a secret, I was once chastised by my wife for taking a photograph of an unusual shaped kerb on holiday which stopped drivers mounting the pavement. I’m now banned from saying to Amy “We could use something like that in Leeds”.
The other day I took my usual route home from Leeds along Roundhay Road through Harehills and to the bottom end of Roundhay Ward. I started thinking about my job as a Councillor over the last six years and all the work my Roundhay Ward Councillor colleagues Valerie Kendall, Paul Wadsworth and I had been involved in.
Travelling the length of Roundhay Road we have:
Had on running battles over the late night noise from Bar Noir and enforcing the licensing hours
Fought (unsuccessfully) to retain a house which was run down before being demolished to build a car park, which now won’t be completed as the owners have gone bust
Overseen the changes when the Astoria building became a block of flats to prevent extra floors being added and to address issues raised by neighbours
Worked with the Highways Department to have the bus lane converted into a “High Occupancy Vehicle” lane with money from outside of the city - work due to start in a month or so after many delays
Campaigned along with local visually impaired people to get a pelican crossing installed near to Tesco
Worked with police to deal with issues around the Roundhay pub, now thankfully resolved for some time
Secured £400,000 for our Oakwood Village Scheme to introduce a new car park, street furniture (soon to be installed) and improve the Oakwood Clock car park, to support our local businesses and shoppers
Brought together traders to set up the Oakwood Traders’ Association
Worked to reduce a planning application for 11 flats to a lesser number above Bathstore.com to avoid parking problems
Managed to get the Oakwood Clock junction improvements finally competed - this was a few years ago but was a scheme which had been on ice for many years prior to that
Supported the REAP group during their set up who run the fabulous Farmer’s Market
Done much, much more
Thinking it through reminds me what a thoroughly enjoyable job being a Ward Councillor is. It’s a job where you can get job satisfaction. Roundhay Road is, of course, just one road out of nearly 400 in Roundhay but there is more we’d like to do including:
Working with local residents to make sure their comments are listened to in the planning process for demolishing the Homebase store and the building of a new Tesco Extra with petrol station – plans are available now at Oakwood Library if you wish to look and comment
Replacing all the street lighting
Installing more Christmas decorations each year in Oakwood - Val, Paul and I currently pay for two from a little fund we have
Developing a suitable piece of artwork to welcome people to Oakwood from the south side, hopefully with input from local school kids
Redeveloping the area around the Oakwood Clock to make it more attractive to sit in and better for the market
Refurbishing the Clock which is in dire need of a full structural refit, the cost of which will be eye watering
Finally nailing the street cleaning issues
Getting an acceptable refurbishment or replacement of the toilet block on the edge of the park
Seeing if we can get businesses interested in improving the area which they own between the pavement and shop fronts in Oakwood
Pushing for Roundhay Road to be resurfaced (now due 2010/11 year)
If you have any suggestions for this or any other street in Roundhay we’d be glad to hear about them. Times are tough financially which means that now, more than ever, we have to find new and innovative ways to attract funding for Roundhay which do not involve spending lots of Leeds Council Tax payer’s money.
Politics is not always an easy job and for every few people who you please, you upset another. The scandals over MP’s expenses may put people off getting involved in local politics but please don’t assume all politicians are the same. Across Leeds, most Councillors have claimed either nothing or next to nothing on expenses for years. We receive a salary referred to as an ‘allowance’ because it is there to cover many expenses as well as pay us a salary and, crucially, all of it is taxed the same as a salary. All this information is on the Council’s website, please do scrutinise it, we have nothing to hide.
Promoted by Ted Stafford on behalf of Matthew Lobley for North East Leeds both at Enterprise House
249 Low Lane
Horsforth
Leeds
LS16 5NY
Tel: 0113 2945074
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