Council Committee approves Christmas lights

The Inner South West Community Committee, made up of councillors from Beeston & Holbeck, Hunslet & Riverside, Armley and Kirkstall wards met yesterday evening (2 September 2025) at Leeds Civic Hall.

The Chair, Cllr Mohammed Iqbal, explained how the Open Forum is an opportunity to raise questions or issues with the committee, despite there being no members of the public present. He encouraged anyone watching the livestream or video to attend future meetings to raise their concerns.

Cllr Andrew Scopes raised his concerns about data he had received showing a decline in the number of cases where the police had used evidence from the council-funded CCTV cameras. Cases had dropped from over 1,000 in 2022-23, to 526 in 2023-24 and 179 in 2024-25. He asked if the committee could request the police to attend a future meeting to explain the figures, given the high costs of maintaining the cameras.

The meeting went on to discuss the finances under its control confirming the annual budget for wellbeing grants, Youth Activities Fund and Community Infrastructure Levy.

The councillors approved the following grants for projects in South Leeds:

  • Beeston & Holbeck Festive Lights
  • Hunslet & Riverside Festive Lights
  • Lantern Festival in LS11 (Salvation Army)
  • Wellbeing Project (Asha Neighbourhood Project)
  • Hunslet Clean Up Equipment (Hunslet Tenants & Residents Association)

You can watch a recording of the meeting here.

The next meeting of the Inner South West Community Committee will be on Tuesday 4 November at Leeds Civic Hall starting at 5:30pm, it will also be livestreamed.

 

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