What's happening in Beeston, Belle Isle, Cottingley, Holbeck, Hunslet, Middleton and Stourton
The latest recipient of a Leeds Civic trust blue plaque is The Holbeck. Known by most people as the Holbeck Working Men’s Club, it is the oldest such club in the country. It began life in 1871 as a community organisation with less than a hundred members. Into the 20th
Motorways don’t generally run through the middle of residential areas, so doing repairs and maintenance work isn’t usually an issue when it comes to noise. But the M621 in South Leeds is completely different. It cuts right through the heart of our community and in recent weeks life has been
Someone asked me the other day why MPs use the term advice surgery. Well, I replied, we do give advice but we’re not doctors. But that’s not how one person saw it. The first person who turned up at my very first advice surgery as a councillor many years ago
It is hard to believe that the Beeston Festival has just celebrated its 25th year. Always a highlight of the summer, I swear it’s getting bigger every year. Once again, the weather was kind and the crowds flocked into Cross Flatts Park to enjoy the music, delicious food and the
For the second time in recent years local residents and I have found ourselves dealing with a particular problem. Companies that start operating and causing disturbance in buildings when they don’t have planning permission for what they are doing. In the first case, a quiet residential block by the river
“I see a number of children who are desperate to eat.” “Lots of children on a normal school day have little or no breakfast.” “You can tell how much more the children eat on a Monday.” These are all quotes from staff working in primary schools in Leeds. They were
A couple of weeks ago, I attended the climate emergency rally on the steps of Leeds Town Hall. There were hundreds of school students there from across our city. They had decided to come together to speak as the next generation about the huge risks of dangerous climate change. Ever
First of all, some good news. Royal Mail has dropped its proposal to close the Holbeck delivery office. I was delighted, if to tell the truth a little surprised, when I heard the news, but this has been a wonderful victory for local residents and Royal Mail staff. They ran
A journalist asked me the other day how my constituents are feeling about Brexit. I replied that judging by my inbox they are pretty much split down the middle. On the one hand, people say ‘I just want out’ while on the other people plead ‘Can’t you stop Brexit?’ And
Between April and September this year, the Trussell Trust – the UK’s largest emergency food provider – gave 658,048 food parcels to people in crisis. If someone had suggested, say, 40 years ago that so many of our fellow citizens would need to go up to a complete stranger and