Rothwell Primary school gets new 20mph zone

Posted on April 27, 2016 by admin

Rothwell councillor Karen Bruce has successfully campaigned for 20mph zones throughout the ward It’s fantastic that we’re getting another 20mph zone in Rothwell. The latest one is around the Carlton Lane area and includes all the streets from Carlton Lane and Butcher Lane. This includes Stone Brig Lane which all too often is used as a rat run by some inconsiderate people.

Road safety is one of the top issues that people contact me and David about and the roads around Rothwell Primary are no exception. Local residents, parents and grandparents consistently raise the issue of safety for children with a combination of speeding cars and inconsiderately parked cars being two of the biggest complaints.

Speeding and parking are also two of the top topics people raise with us when we’re running community stalls, doing our roving councillor street surgeries and calling round knocking on doors to listen to local concerns.

This will be the latest 20mph zone in the Rothwell ward in our campaign to get many of our suitable roads into the zones, following successful schemes introduced in Carlton, Woodlesford, Haigh Road, and Victoria Primary school.

The highways department tell me:

“Preliminary speed surveys have been undertaken and the results have indicated that this area can be implemented as a 20mph Limit. With the current driver behaviour on these streets, traffic calming should not be required in order to bring vehicle speeds down to an acceptable level. Post implementation monitoring will be undertaken to ensure that this has been successful.

In addition to this the existing School Keep Clear markings will be formalised by introducing a Traffic Regulation Order to that affect. This will allow Leeds City Council to enforce them and will be in force from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.”

This is another measure in our campaign to improve road safety in Rothwell, Woodlesford, Oulton and Carlton. A recent addition was the two crossings in Oulton to help school children in Woodlesford and Oulton cross the road safely and funding luminous clips for the children to wear.

Rothwell councillors David Nagle and Karen Bruce We’re also hoping to get funding for installing mobile speed camera units, on an occasional basis on the John O Gaunts end of A639: These will need an area to be installed on the central reservation for a vehicle to be parked up and appropriate signage

At the same time we are tackling parking problems outside our school including Rothwell Primary and have again had discussions with the neighbourhood policing team and requested regular police checks to be undertaken around all our local schools at peak times in Rothwell, Woodlesford, Oulton and Carlton and action to help to try to ensure safer parking including ticketing and this was agreed as a way forward.

This is the proposed 20mph zone and parking restrictions.

Rothwell Primary school 20mph zone map

New Rothwell skatepark officially open

Posted on April 23, 2016 by admin

A fabulous day was had by all at the official opening of The 8010 Skate park last weekend. The opening saw a fantastic turnout with young skaters excited to see their new skate park in Springhead Park officially opened. Lots of young people wasted no time in enjoying trying out the new ramps.

The new design features a 1.4-metre quarter pipe, flat bank hip, Miami bank, pump bump and down hubba suitable for skateboarders, roller skaters, in-line skaters, BMX riders and scooter riders. The new skate park is a result of a great community project by the 8010 group, Groundwork,, Leeds City Council and local councillors Cllr David Nagle and Karen Bruce.

The £112,000 community skate park has been created in memory of a late Rothwell skater Daniel Parrinder, who died tragically in a car accident in 2014. The campaign was initiated by young skaters who contacted myself and David Nagle and we were keen to get on board to help drive the project forward and make it happen, there followed many months of fundraising.

Grant funding from Leeds City Council including Outer South Community Committee and Housing Leeds and Section 106 funds from housing developers helped to make the park a reality in place of existing ramps deemed “dangerous” when wet. It was great to see our young people making the most of the new skate park over the Easter holidays and no doubt it will see great use this summer.

We want young people in Rothwell to have the best modern facilities and we were pleased to be able to help raise the necessary funding to enable the project to go ahead. The new skate park is fabulous. We’re proud that young skaters spearheaded this project, it is a real credit to them.

The 8010 Association-led campaign was supported by the Groundwork charity, Leeds City Council, local ward councillors, The Works skate board charity and Mondegreen which use landfill tax credits to provide funding for community projects.

Daniel’s Mum Marcia carried out the official opening, she gave a moving speech at the opening and cut the official ribbon. More photographs of the opening are on the Rothwell News facebook page at http://j.mp/8010skatepark.

New job shop to open at Rothwell library hub

Posted on March 30, 2016 by admin

Cllr Karen Bruce and Cllr David Nagle A new job shop in Rothwell library will help people who are out of work to get jobs, help those with work to get better paid jobs, access training for new skills, apply for apprenticeships, improve their CVs and application forms and improve their interview skills through tips and mock interviews.

The new job shop is part of improvements to the Rothwell one stop centre which is moving to Rothwell library to become a community hub providing a wider range of improved services. As well as the new job shop residents will be able to access all of the services that were previously available in the one stop centre as well as new improved ones.

Services available in the new Rothwell community hub include registering births and deaths, arrange to pay rent or council tax, get help to find housing, report rubbish and litter in streets and parks, access the internet and borrow the latest bestsellers all under the same roof.

Rothwell library is a great local resource and having the community hub means that we can help protect the library in the long term. Not only that, but it means all council services for Rothwell will be in one place, at the heart of our community in the centre of Rothwell. The new job shop is one of the most exciting parts of the new community hub and will mean residents who currently have to travel to Seacroft, Harehills or the city centre will be able to get help locally.

We know there will be a short period of disruption whilst the improvements take place, however the newly refurbished building will mean better access to Leeds City Council services for people in the Rothwell district. I believe that libraries can form the basis of a vibrant community. This is a ‘win win’ for local residents as the current building will stay in use with the local housing department staff still based there. Despite Cllr Golton stirring up fear, the fact is that just the two frontline staff will be moving over to the library. This provides better services to residents, protects the library by increasing the number of people who use it. It’s sad that Cllr Golton wants to talk down local people instead of fighting to improve and protect services like me and Cllr David Nagle.

The council has received complaints about the current one stop centre because of the lack of privacy to make enquiries. The enquiry points in the library hub will be larger and confidential. Often of course, residents use both the one stop centre and the library and wonder why these services are in two buildings.

In a difficult financial climate we want to make sure our civic buildings are being used in the best possible way and that residents don’t have to move from place to place to get everything done. The move will mean that the council front desk services are open longer to come into line with library hours benefiting local people. Library hours include some evening and Saturday and Sunday hours so these are extra hours when people will be able to make face to face enquiries to the council in Rothwell. We are also in talks with the police with a view to getting a PCSO to come into the hub to be accessible to local people there, as I think this would be a great addition as there is currently no police front desk in Rothwell.

The community room will still be for hire as the library shelving will be on castors in that area so can be moved around. However, the room is very poorly used with only two bookings per month at present, so this will improve usage of the room with dual use. The newspapers and places to sit and read them will continue.

A key reason to bring services together is to protect services and enable them to be delivered locally. As we know many neighbouring councils have taken the options to close face to face services including libraries, but we want to ensure our library remains well used. The hub initiative enables us to do this.

Rothwell councillors save 22 bus running through Rothwell, Woodlesford, Garforth and Seacroft

Posted on March 4, 2016 by admin

Just had the great news that we’ve saved the number 22 bus which me and my ward colleague Cllr David Nagle have been working to save on behalf of local residents.

When we found out the the private bus company Square Peg was going to stop the service we launched a campaign to save it. The 22 is a vital bus for many residents who rely on it. It runs from Rothwell Commercial Street via Woodlesford to Garforth and Seacroft.

We’d already started to campaign to save it when residents started to contact us and also came to see us at our councillors’ advicce sessions and street surgeries we’ve been holding around the ward.

We raised residents’ concerns directly with the chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Transport Authority (WYCA), Cllr Keith Wakefield; the deputy leader of Leeds City Council, Cllr James Lewis; and Square Peg.

It’s hard to save a bus service as Square Peg is a private company running the route as a commercial business so can withdraw it if it wants to.

However, we got WYCA to get passenger numbers from Square Peg so it could analyse the route and do surveys to see if it would meet its criteria for support. A spokesperson for WYCA told me that it has now decided to subsidise Square Peg to continue operating the 22 service. It will run Monday to Friday off peak from 21 March until 22 July, when the service will be reviewed alongside others in Leeds as part of a wider network review.

I know residents from the Woodlesford area, who don’t live near the main Aberford Road and many people who live further up the hill off Holmsley Lane, including older people really rely on this service. This bus serves a need for those going to the NHS dentist in Garforth who haven’t been able to register with one in Rothwell. It also allows people relying on public transport to shop at Lidl. There are also quite a few carers who rely on this bus.

Residents on Haigh Road and streets off such as Styebank Lane are also badly affected as they rely on this bus with no bus serving it to Leeds. We are campaigning for a better bus for these residents and don’t want residents to lose the service they do have. We understand that buses are essential for many local people who need them to get to work, college, hospital visits and shopping.

Many people think the council run bus services as they did many years ago but this is not the case. Square Peg run this service commercially so decisions to run or cancel are made by them as a business not by Metro.

The Conservative government cuts mean there’s a lot less money to subsidise tendered services, but we are so pleased that funds have been secured to keep this valuable service going and we will be pushing for this service to be further extended on behalf of the residents who rely on it.

So you see despite the Tory cuts to council service we can still stand up for local people and not just stand by and see people suffer.

Dolphin Manor Trust pulls out of talks to provide care for Rothwell older people

Posted on February 20, 2016 by admin

Cllr Karen Bruce and Lisa Mulherin inspecting an extra care home for the elderly

Older people still have their own front door in extra care homes

The Dolphin Manor Trust has pulled out of long standing talks with Leeds City Council to run a new care facility.

Me and my ward colleague Cllr David Nagle are surprised and saddened by the sudden decision by the Dolphin Manor Trust to abandon talks with Leeds City Council to help provide the best housing and care solution for older people in Rothwell, Woodlesford, Oulton and Carlton.

The best outcome for local people will be achieved working with local people, it’s a shame this won’t be with the involvement of the Dolphin Manor Trust but that is their decision and we have to respect that. The Dolphin Manor Trust had decided to get the Sandwell Trust on board (from the Midlands) and complex negotiations ensued between the three parties over a long period of time. Unfortunately the local Liberal Democrats seem to be in a time warp and opposed to the new ideas that could really increase the quality of life for our older people in the future.

Time moves on though, and although when the Dolphin Manor Trust talks started, a new traditional type of care home to replace Dolphin Manor seemed to be the best way forward, the world of social care and housing has moved on, and when new ideas could give local people a better quality of life in their later years, then that has to be our top priority as elected representatives of those local folk.

Every older person has a private bathroom in extra care homes

We’re disappointed that our hopes of the council, Dolphin Manor Trust and Sandwell working together have been dashed, but we’re more determined than ever that Rothwell, Woodlesford, Oulton and Carlton folk still get the best possible deal and choice for those later years. People are living longer and need support for longer. I feel passionate about making local people’s later years as comfortable and homely as possible, with a bit of their own space even when they come to need care and support.

Each private apartment has a living area as well as one or even two bedrooms.

I’m confident that providing extra care housing in Rothwell is the right thing to do, where some of the residents would perhaps have gone into a care home, will have this innovative new option open to them. They will get all the best possible care as they would in a care home, but will also have the type of accommodation they deserve. Instead of just a bedroom in a care home, they would have their own front door, a kitchenette, a living room, a bedroom, storage etc. It could include a café and or/restaurant, hairdressers etc and best of all a community hub so no-one needs to be isolated wherever they happen to live. The ideal site would be the large site on Holmsley Lane, where buildings are currently being demolished, which is council owned.

Each apartment has its own kitchen area.

There is Oulton Manor, the new care home near to Rothwell Leisure Centre soon to open with 80+ beds, and there are plans for the extra care facility and for a new separate nursing home, which is likely to be built on the site of either Home Lea or Dolphin Manor, this would provide the widest range of care facilities in the Rothwell area.

If only extra care had been available when I was looking at care homes for my dad some years ago, it would have been a great choice. I know which option I would prefer if I ever needed such care in my later years.

Our vision is to work with local people to create something very exciting and tailored to Rothwell’s needs. With the right planning this could be a social hub for local people, where those living in extra care and those living in their own homes, who might otherwise be isolated, could mingle together. Leeds City Council also are planning for a much needed nursing home in Rothwell for those in the most need of support.

The photos are of an extra care apartment in the extra care centre which was currently empty and about to be refurbished for a new resident, but this just gives us an idea of what we could acheive with our extra care in Rothwell.

We will update through my blog and the Rothwell News Facebook page as things progress.