I met Thuja Phillips from Parks and Countryside on the park earlier today. She was accompanied by colleagues from Parks and Countryside, and the contractor. Thuja was wanting to replace cracked stone flags around the Victoria Memorial with tarmac. I told her that in a Leeds conservation area, you have to replace York stone flags with other York stone flags. I also showed her page 27 of the Headingley Hill, Hyde Park and Woodhouse Moor Conservation Area Appraisal. ¹1 This is a council document, and it says the same thing. It also says that the area of York stone should be extended “wherever possible.” I pointed out to her too that if the council forbade the use of vehicles on the park, there would be no cracked flags. But all of this fell on deaf ears. Thuja said that there was no money for York stone and that she would have to make an “executive decision” to replace the flags with tarmac.

Footnotes

1. Headingley Hill, Hyde Park and Woodhouse Moor Conservation Area Appraisal