Commenting on the decision by Lib Dem and Conservative councillors on Leeds City Council’s Exective Board to ignore the wishes of local residents and proceed with a scheme to create barbque areas on Woodhouse Moor, Lambeth councillor Ruth Ling explains how two years ago, Lambeth Council dealt with a similar problem on Clapham Common:

“This decision is a great shame, and very short-sighted. Barbecues do a great deal of harm to the park (or Moor) where they are lit, create a very unpleasant smoky atmosphere for other park users and invariably lead to bones and other food waste being left lying around, which attract rats.

“Although I grew up in Leeds (Ash Grove, Hyde Park), went to school in Headingley, and used to walk across Woodhouse Moor every day to Jacob Kramer Art College and later to my job at Leeds Playhouse, sadly I have been exiled in London for many years. For the past 15 years, I have been a councillor for Clapham Common, where we successfully banned barbecues a couple of years ago without any fuss. I have never received one complaint from anyone unhappy about the decision, nor have I ever heard from any resident of any incidence of the bye-laws being flouted (and we have some extremely active and vocal local amenity groups including the Clapham Society, Friends of Clapham Common and the Clapham Common Management Advisory Committee). Admittedly, we have park rangers to enforce the ban (though the Common is more than three times larger than Woodhouse Moor, at 88 hectares) but I think the real enforcement comes in the £500 fine, which is hefty enough to act as a deterrent.

“For the large Council estates facing onto and close by the Common, this lovely green space is their front garden, and it is always packed on sunny days. Yet people seem happy to take picnics with them, and to eat cold food — there is no need to eat hot food on a warm day! And I think the thousands of people who pack on to the Common on sunny days really appreciate not being smoked out by the few.

“I really hope that Leeds City Council reconsiders its decision and that the Moor is left barbecue-free for the greater enjoyment of the majority. But please sort out the litter problem! Every time I visit my old stamping grounds (as I will this weekend for Carnival), I am shocked at the mess on the Moor. Good luck.”

If only we had a councillor like Ruth here.