MONDAY MORNING AND A FRESH HARVEST OF LITTER AND DAMAGE
These photos were taken this morning. All this litter has appeared since this time yesterday.
PETROL GENERATOR, GIANT LOUDSPEAKERS, BLARING MUSIC, LITTER EVERYWHERE, HARD SPIRITS AND BARBEQUES. THIS WAS WOODHOUSE MOOR YESTERDAY EVENING.
Young people and street drinkers seemed to be getting on fine at yesterday evening’s impromptu pop concert. But then, alcohol does break down barriers. And from all the tins and bottles strewn everywhere, vast quantities had been consumed.
Blaring out from giant loudspeakers, the music could be heard all over the Moor. Power for the loudspeakers was provided by a petrol driven generator.
Two students came up to us and asked why we were taking photographs. When we told them, they said that they felt ashamed to be students. They added that if the people responsible were given hefty fines, it would soon put a stop to the problem.
A YEAR ON, AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED
These photographs were taken yesterday evening.
THE MOOR IN SPRING
CONGRATULATIONS !
Just months after he was awarded an MBE, Woodhouse Moor’s gardener, John Egan has had further cause to celebrate. Forty years ago last week, on the 24th May 1969, he and his wife Susan were married. Earlier this evening, I was talking to John. He told me how he came to Leeds in 1961 from Castlerea in County Rosscommon. When he first arrived here, he lived in the gatehouse of the Faversham Hotel on Mount Preston. In early 1963, he moved from there to Roundhay. Then he spent some time in Harehills before moving on to Meanwood, which is where he was living when he met Susan. They moved to their present home, the gardener’s lodge, in 1974. John and Susan have two daughters and four grandchildren.
RECENT LETTERS
On Thursday the 21st May, there was a letter from H Johnson pointing out that the council’s refusal to enforce the barbeque ban is undermining the hard work of the Moor’s gardener, John Egan MBE. Then on the 23rd May, Barbara Tyldesley from Cookridge wrote that allowing barbeques on the Moor doesn’t help the council’s environmental credentials. On the 25th May, there were letters from Ian Falkingham of Woodhouse, and Chris Webb of Headingley Hill. Ian feels that our only importance to the council, is as a source of council tax. Chris asks how long the council is going to allow this situation to carry on, and if it would be allowed on green space owned by the universities. Tony Green from North Hyde Park had a letter in on the 27th May asking if the council can’t properly manage the Moor, are they fit to be managing the rest of the city. On the 28th May, Ann Massa from North Hyde Park said that our councillors are letting us down, just as our MPs have let us down. And then today, Friday the 29th May, Richard Hellawell from Little Woodhouse accused the Lib Dem councillors of riding roughshod over voters.
More futility with our money
I came back from The Moor last night; it’s surreal!
There I found two park wardens on motor bikes in LCC livery (see attached image) by the most popular BBQ patch accepting complaints from an Ice Cream van that other vans were trespassing on his patch! When I asked them whether he was illegal in driving round the park in his van they said no- he pays LCC a rent to do so! Can you believe it! When I pointed out that some students were BBQ’ing in front of them in direct violation of the byelaws they said they had instructions not to do anything; there were hundreds of byelaws and it was nothing to do with them! They had a TV unit on one bike and they said they took pictures of all that was happening and their manager would decide whether to take any action; the assumption is that he would not. When I pointed out the litter one group were leaving they said staff would clear this up in the morning; they would not intervene. Think what all this costs; two bikes two riders at 8.30pm one TV unit, staff to clear the mess and still no-one puts a stop or does anything to intervene or even say what the byelaws are!
Have I gone mad! Even the riders admitted their presence was completely futile.
Richard Hellawell
PHOTOS MY NEIGHBOUR TOOK THIS MORNING
AND ANOTHER MORNING AFTER
At the INWAC meeting on the 2nd July 2008, in connection with our request that councillors enforce the byelaw banning barbeques, Councillor Jamie Matthews said “If some people had their way, they’d stop everyone having fun”. Well these pictures show what the Moor looked like after just one afternoon and evening of people having fun. Councillor Matthews’ and his colleagues’ refusal to enforce the byelaws means that the surface of the Moor is being permanently degraded. Broken glass is being ground into the earth making the grass unsafe for everyone, but especially so for children. These councillors have much in common with the people who are causing the damage. They’re not from here, they don’t live here, and they don’t care about here. They should be made to pay for the damage they’re causing to the Moor out of their own pockets. And the bills for the “consultation” and fire brigade call outs should be sent to them too.
JUST ANOTHER DAY ON THE MOOR
The above photos showing barbeques and public urination were taken at 4pm this afternoon. Even though it’s against the law to have barbeques and to urinate in public, the police officers present did nothing about it. Just after I took these photos, I counted six men simultaneously urinating beside the hedge that borders the allotments. The fact they can’t be bothered walking to the nearby toilets shows their lack of respect for the park and the sensibilities of local people, a trait they share with our councillors and the police. The photo of the fire engine was taken at 10pm. It had been called out to extinguish one of the many fires that are caused by barbeques. There were about six firemen, and one of them was heard to say that they’d probably be out to the Moor again tonight. The average cost of calling out a fire engine is £2,200.