The Holbeck Neighbourhood Forum took place at ‘The Holbeck’ (formley The Holbeck Working Men’s Club) on Saturday 7 November 2015.
The special general meeting was chaired by Dennis Kitchen and was greeted with some new faces of the residents in Holbeck along with volunteers, local police and ward councillors. After formalities of the meeting with amendments to the constitution being agreed, Dennis informed everyone on the progress of the Neighbourhood Plan through the next and important stages of the pre-submission initial draft plan.
Peter Baker who had been brought in to write the document has helped bring all the work the volunteers have being doing over the last three years into a 78 page document. Peter Baker presented maps and talked through amendments and modifications after receiving feedback from the council making the plan more robust in terms of official policy terms. A breakdown of the objectives and the plan will be given through a public consultation starting at the Holbeck Christmas Market on Saturday 5 December. This will still give a chance for the public to have their say and help shape the plan further before submitting through to an external examiner.
Ian Pickup updated on Holbeck in Bloom and the Matthew Murray trail, taking us on a journey through industrial heritage linked with walking month next year in March. The information leaflets with colourful photos had been designed by Lynne Gormer with funding from City Connect.
The local police attended the meeting. The officer informed the public due to the darker nights, they were increasing patrol numbers in the community. This has been helped and funded by local ward councilors Adam Ogilvie and Angela Gabriel.
Juliet Bennett from Keepmoat unveiled plans to place a commemorative plinth in the centre of the new buildings in Jenkinson Close where the Holbeck Towers once stood along with a historic information board. The plinth will be situated on a roundabout within the roads of the new houses with two plaques to remember two local historic names associated with the area; Charles Jenkinson and Hugh Gaitskell. These plaques were rescued by Neil Diamond (LCC) before the towers were pulled down in 2009. This plinth will hopefully draw the community together and help new residents learn a bit about the history of their area and connect the past with the present. A request was made for illuminating the plinth and Keepmoat are looking into this. Leeds City Council is arranging a ‘New Homes, New Year, New Chapter’ for Holbeck celebration event at the end of January 2016.
Dennis Kitchen informed everyone that Burberry’s are planning on moving their factory and workers from Castleford and Keighley to the South Bank area including the Temple Works building in Holbeck. These sites were originally included on the Holbeck Neighbourhood Plan with the land proposed for mixed use by the plan including; businesses, housing and a health centre, which would be easily accessible to the community. Members of the forum agreed this would still be a big positive for the area and that the forum should make contacts with developers in terms of working together. Coincidentally, the Matthew Murray site which has now come back onto the Site Allocations Plan with the reason why it was taken off remaining unknown, will prove a reason for the need for mixed use even more on the old secondary school site. Adam Oglivie said the ward councilors were keen to support the building of new houses in the area.
There will be a chance to see the ‘plan’ before it goes out to public consultation at the Holbeck Christmas Market; Saturday 5 December 2015. After this every house and workplace in Holbeck will receive a flyer stating when and where the consultations will take place from 7 January 2016. This will give residents and businesses of Holbeck a chance to learn a bit more about the plan and post their comments. There will also be a copy of the document in the main public spaces for people to view in their own time and post comments in the box.
Holbeck Neighbourhood Forum are asking residents if they have or would like to take photos of their area to add so it can go into the plan. Please send your pictures to hello@holbeckneighbourhoodplan.org.uk
