Councillors met last night (6 November 2013) as the Inner South Area Committee and amongst the topics debated were Middleton Park golf course, the new Asda at Middleton and the new Ruth Gorse Academy high school.
The meeting always starts with an open forum where any local resident can raise any issue or ask a question. Yesterday the Councillors were asked what is happening about Middleton Park golf course which was due to be closed, but was given a 12 month reprieve. We are still waiting for a report to go to the Council’s Executive Board and for a public consultation. The good news is that the working party led by the golf club is putting the finishing touches to its business case. We will report more as soon as we hear about it.
South Leeds Life reported back in August that Asda had applied for a licence to sell alcohol 24 hours a day at their new Middleton store. The group that looks at alcohol licences locally have turned that down and the store, which is due to open in May 2014, will only open between 8am and 10pm.
We have also covered developments with the Ruth Gorse Academy, the new high school due to open in Holbeck or Hunslet next September. Councils aren’t allowed to build new schools any more so this will be a Free school. The decision about the site is being taken in London by the Department for Education, not by Leeds City Council. Despite the lack of information about where the school will be, we do know that it will open in September 2014 with 190 places for Year 7 children.
The Councillors discussed a number of other issues, including:
- Funding for children and young people’s activities
- Work to improve Dewsbury Road as a district centre
- Helping get local people into jobs in the Aire Valley Enterprise Zone
- Better partnership working between the Council and Third Sector (community) organisations
The Inner South Area Committee is made up of the nine Councillors from Beeston & Holbeck, City & Hunslet and Middleton Park wards, you can find their details here. The papers from yesterday’s meeting can be found on the Council website here.
The next meeting of the Inner South Area Committee will be on Wednesday 11th December at Leeds Civic Hall, starting at 6pm.
Who is Ruth Gorse?
According to their website:
The Ruth Gorse Academy is named in honour of a beloved and highly talented colleague who died tragically young. Through this academy we intend to work with children and their families following the example set by Ruth in her work: Compassion, humour and enjoyment and a refusal to settle for anything other than the most exceptional standards.
I think she was a teacher at Morley Academy.