Bill – Page 17 – Woodhouse Moor Online

BERNARD ATHA’S VIEW : THE MOOR IS UNDER SUSTAINED ATTACK

May 4, 2009 Bill Comments 1 comment

On Friday the 1st May, Councillor Bernard Atha issued the following statement :

“The Moor is under sustained attack now. Every day sees further damage.
I am opposed totally to the proposals for the barbecue slabs. They would not be allowed in Roundhay or Horsforth or Guiseley. Why Woodhouse?
I have asked that this proposal be submitted for planning application. I have not yet had a response after more than a week.
I have asked that big notices be put up saying barbecues are a breach of the bye laws and offenders will be prosecuted.
I have asked that local funds available to the Councillors are used to pay for extra police supervision and enforcement.
I have pointed out that the Lib Dems could stop this scheme now. Labour has 42 votes in the Council and the nine Lib Dems have nine in Inner North West Leeds making sure that any proposal to stop the scheme and save the Moor could be carried.
I have objected to the views expressed by the local Lib Dem Councillor James Matthews that as we cannot police the park we had better control it by this plan.
I object to the other Lib Dems who say they await the result of the consultation which, as many have written in to say, is a fraud as so many local residents have not received the consultation document which in itself was designed to produce the answer required.
I object to the statement made by the Lib Dems who say that the scheme is Cllr John Procter’s idea. He is a Tory. The idea has not come from John Procter I am sure, and in any case the Lib Dems and the Conservatives have formed a coalition and the Lib Dems are the biggest Party in that coalition.

We must defeat this stupid and damaging proposal and collectively make sure the Moor is protected and supervised properly.
The Lib Dem coalition has mounted a series of attacks on the Moor : making part of it a car park, turning over a large area to accommodate University pitches, a drinking den for easier supervision of the alcoholics displaced from elsewhere and hacking away a substantial strip of it to form a bus lane to ease traffic on what is the widest stretch of road on this extremely busy route out of Leeds. These have all been schemes produced by the coalition in which the Lib Dems are the largest Party.”

(published courtesy of Bernard Atha)

CONCRETE BLOCK SCHEME POSES THREAT TO THE MOOR’S VICTORIAN DRAINAGE SYSTEM – ANOTHER REASON WHY THE COUNCIL SHOULD BE APPLYING FOR PLANNING PERMISSION

April 25, 2009 Bill Comments 0 Comment

One of my neighbours rang me this morning to tell me she’s concerned that the council’s scheme to sink 60cm x 90cm x 60cm concrete blocks 60cm into the ground will interfere with the Moor’s drainage system, installed in Victorian times. She told me that there are springs beneath the Moor. These springs used to cause the Moor to be really marshy. Streams would form from the water that gathered on the Moor and these streams would run across what is now Hyde Park Road and Moorland Road and down the hillsides. The streets known as the Rillbanks at the bottom of Woodsley Road got their name from the fact that “rill” is another word for stream. Sometime after the Town Council bought the Moor in 1857, they drained it. This probably means that they installed beneath the surface, a system of perforated clay drainage pipes. The lady who rang me told me that in the Autumn, if you go onto the Moor and listen carefully, you can hear water running beneath the grass. This must be the sound the water makes as it passes through the drainage pipes. If Leeds City Council goes ahead with its scheme to sink 40 concrete blocks 60cm into the ground, the chances are that they’ll destroy this Victorian drainage system. This would very likely turn the Moor back into a marsh. And then wouldn’t that be a good excuse for the council to send in bulldozers and workmen to level and drain the Moor so that the part not used for barbeque areas, could be turned into playing fields or whatever else the council wants.

(photo courtesy of mahalie)

LOCAL RESIDENTS CALL FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE EXISTING BYELAWS ON BARBEQUES

April 24, 2009 Bill Comments 0 Comment

Once again the council’s scheme for barbeque areas has been in the news with two letters about it published in the Yorkshire Evening Post. The first letter was published on Wednesday and was from local resident Kathleen Mason who gives several very good reasons why the scheme is a bad idea, and the consultation exercise, undemocratic. At the end of her letter, Kathleen says she doesn’t want the smell nor the sight of this activity, nor any more money spending on the proposed scheme. I know just what Kathleen means. When I cut across the Moor on my way home this evening, I had to walk through barbeque smoke for the entire length of the path that runs alongside the bowling greens towards the Wellington statue. It was horrible.

The second letter was published on Thursday and was from pensioner Elizabeth Leigh. Elizabeth’s heart goes out to the gardener John Egan and his colleagues, who every morning after it’s been warm and sunny, have to begin their day by spending hours cleaning up the mess. Elizabeth asks why the council doesn’t employ park wardens to enforce the existing byelaws, instead of spending thousands on the current consultation exercise.

APRIL ON THE MOOR

April 21, 2009 Bill Comments 0 Comment

At an INWAC meeting last Summer, after I complained about the anti-social behaviour being allowed to take place on the Moor, Councillor Matthews (Lib Dem, Headingley) claimed that the reports of anti-social behaviour were exaggerated and that if some people had their way they’d stop everyone having fun. I took a stroll across the Moor this morning and was greeted by the site of a bed settee in the middle of the most attractive part of the park. Councillor Matthews would probably regard this as a harmless prank and just people having fun. When our councillors take this attitude to anti-social behaviour, is it any wonder that the police refuse to take these matters seriously and act against the perpetrators. Also this morning, there was litter strewn everywhere and burnt grass from barbeques – all the result of people just “having fun”. And in the photo below, taken yesterday afternoon, you can see two bikers “having fun”.

Late Edition

April 15, 2009 Bill Comments 0 Comment

It was reported in yesterday’s Yorkshire Evening Post that absence due to sickness costs Leeds City Council £26 million every year. Councillor Jon Bale was quoted as saying, “Supportive management is needed to ensure workers turn up regularly and are supported in whatever problems they face.” Presumably this would mean Councillor John Procter and senior managers at Parks and Countryside listening to their ground staff’s views on barbeques. They are after all the people who have to gather up the toxic ash, broken glass and other litter that’s deposited during the barbeque season.

Also in yesterday’s paper was a letter from local resident Tony Paley-Smith. Tony was responding to a letter from Greg Miller praising councillors for including short term residents in the barbeque consultation. Mr Miller is the deputy head of Leeds University’s community relations department and lives miles away from Woodhouse Moor.

There was also an editorial comment on the consultation process.

The Mystery of the Missing Survey Forms

April 12, 2009 Bill Comments 0 Comment

One of the council officers who attended the drop-ins told me that the survey forms were delivered by a private company on the 26th and the 27th March. He said they’d decided to use the services of this private company rather than the Royal Mail because their quote was half that of the Royal Mail. It can’t have occurred to them that a company that quotes half what the Royal Mail is quoting might be delivering only half the service. That does now seem a reasonable explanation for why the majority of the local residents I’m acquainted with, haven’t received a form.

What do we know about this company? Their website claims, “All of our staff are fully employed mature, professional distributors – they are highly reliable, dedicated to customer service & will NOT let you down”. Really? Then where are the missing survey forms?

What I’d like to know is what checks does Leeds City Council carry out to determine whether private companies like this are actually delivering the goods. And what checks do they make into claims such as the one made by this company that they only employ “fully employed, mature, professional distributors” before they actually enter into a contract with the company.

Vanished !

April 4, 2009 Bill Comments 0 Comment

An undetermined number of the 10,000 survey forms that were to have been delivered to every household within 800 metres of the park’s perimeter have instead disappeared into a black hole. The council used a private delivery firm to deliver the forms rather than Royal Mail on the ground that this was cheaper. But the Royal Mail has a reputation for reliability and to not use them for this important survey may turn out to have been a false economy if the survey has to be abandoned on the ground that not all local residents have received their survey forms as promised.

Local resident Chris Webb pointed out recently that 10,000 is more than the total number of households in Hyde Park and Woodhouse (the actual number in 2001 was 9705). Given this, how is it possible that Chris and so many other people haven’t received a form ? Chris had a letter published in yesterday’s Yorkshire Evening Post on this issue, and so did North Hyde Park Neighbourhood Association chair Martin Staniforth. Martin pointed out in his letter that it’s high time the council started to engage with the local community.

The above image of a black hole is published courtesy of thebadastronomer.

Read all about it !

March 23, 2009 Bill Comments 0 Comment

Martin Staniforth has had a letter published in today’s Yorkshire Evening Post criticising the slanted nature of the barbeque consultation. In it he makes clear that it’s been targeted at students and designed to elicit a “yes” to the question “Do you want to barbeque on Woodhouse Moor?”. He calls for further drop-ins that are accessible to local people. Martin is a local resident and chair of North Hyde Park Neighbourhood Association, our longest established community association. You can read his letter by clicking on the words above highlighted in green. Thanks Martin for speaking out on our behalf.

Where every night can be Bonfire Night

March 21, 2009 Bill Comments 0 Comment

When I got home last night from the barbeque consultation, there was an email from one of the Friends informing me there was a bonfire on the Moor. I went up there and found a large group of people gathered round a blazing fire.
Some of the people gathered around the fire weren’t too pleased that I was taking a photograph. One came up to me and pointing to my camera asked “Are you going to use this as evidence?”. I wish. But this is Hyde Park and Woodhouse 2009 where it seems that the only crime left is murder. I am right aren’t I – murder is still a crime here? On my way home, I flagged down a passing police van and told them about the barbeque. They said they’d look into it. The next morning I found that not only had the barbeque-ers burnt the grass, they’d also torn off the seat from one of the park benches.

We’ve precious few park benches as at is. When you think about it, the lack of park benches means that older people are being discriminated against. If there’s nowhere for them to sit how can they properly enjoy the park ?

The morning after

March 19, 2009 Bill Comments 1 comment

Woodhouse Moor was packed with people yesterday afternoon enjoying the glorious sunshine. Unfortunately, many of them never bothered to take their litter home with them, which is why the park looked such a mess this morning.
Leeds employs people known as “Civil Enforcement Officers” to ensure that the city is kept neat and tidy. They have the power to issue on the spot £75 fixed penalty notices to anyone dropping litter. A friend of mine was fined a couple of years ago by one of these people for dropping a cigarette butt in the city centre. And there’s the problem. These enforcement officers don’t appear to operate in Hyde Park and Woodhouse ward. If they do, I’ve never seen one. Why is it that the rules that apply to other parts of the city don’t apply here ?
There were five barbeques burning yesterday afternoon, and this morning I took this photo showing the damage caused by one of them.

I find it amazing that these dangerous contraptions are freely available in supermarkets and corner shops. There’s no age limit restricting their sale. Last year I heard at work that someone’s child had stood on one. She lost all sensation in the sole of her foot because of nerve damage.