Fantastic response to the Rothwell Rose community survey! The completed forms have been coming back in their droves which tells me that folks in Rothwell, Woodlesford, Carlton and Oulton want to be consulted on what their priorities and issues are. Residents would like to be shown more respect and want other people to take responsibility for their actions. The feedback is invaluable in allowing us to prioritise issues and campaigns that are the most important to local people so thanks to everyone who has returned one. Amongst the things that people said were important were more police on the streets, stopping speeding traffic, better local shops, cleaner streets, better care and more to do for older people, more for young people to do and better public transport. The forms are still coming in a constant flow and I will give further feedback later when they are all in!
Useful feedback from Rothwell residents
Wood Lane evening bus update
I first highlighted the issue of the Wood Lane evening buses which have not been running since August 2005 back in January in the Yorkshire Evening Post and took up the fight to get the bus back on behalf of the residents of the Wood Lane Estate, who felt that they had been forgotten about. At the time at my instigation, urgent talks followed and the buses were on the brink of returning, but another incident of anti-social behaviour prevented this.
Keeping up the pressure, I have spoken to officers at Metro last week. Inspector Lineham has now left and Inspector Vernon Francis has taken over. I have been assured that fresh talks will now be held with Inspector Francis, Arriva and Housing. We can’t let the minority spoil things for the rest of the law abiding citizens on the estate and I amdetermined that they should have their evening bus re-instated!
Good news, our road safety campaign has seen it’s first success!
Dynamic speed alert signs have been placed on Wood
Lane, Rothwell and on Aberford Road. The new signs flash if a driver is going
too fast, tell the driver to slow down and what the speed limit is.
This is a start in
improving road safety. It’s great that the campaign is starting to work and we
are seeing some success. But there is a long way to go. Our demands have forced some action, and we’ll continue our
campaign with vigour as we must have a lorry ban on the danger roads and a
crossing at Royds School. We also need more of these flashing signs.
Working with the Leeds Road Residents Action Group, a number of measures have been identified for action. Watch this space!
The Rothwell Labour Action Team is getting a huge response to the road safety campaign. A resident who works at the scene in road accidents and sees the horrors at first hand has told us that he’s delighted that we’re campaigning on speeding and road safety. We’re continuing to collect names on the petition and are working closely with the Leeds Road Residents Action Group to call for action on our danger roads before it’s too late.
Simon Collister’s comment on the post ‘Lib Dems snub road safety campaigners’ is an interesting one which gives an alarming statistic – that the
single biggest killer of
11-16 year olds is traffic. Knowing that one of the worst danger spots is next to Royds School we can’t afford to ignore the seriousness of the problem. The failure of the council to do anything about the problems or even listen to the campaigners for two years now adds insult to injury.
Despite the snow, many concerned residents braved the elements to attend last Friday’s public meeting about road safety. Those attending included local campaigners Gerard Khoshnaw, Trish Bromilow and Ian Summerfield, as well as other local residents. Both Colin Challen, Labour MP for Morley and Rothwell, and myself put forward practical ideas for what we could both do to help the campaign.
Many residents were angry and upset about the way they have been ignored and treated with contempt for the last two years. They were unable to express their concerns to any of the three local Liberal Democrat councillors and none of them thought that road safety was an important enough issue to warrant them attending the meeting.
However Colin and I are determined that we won’t ignore the very real dangers. We’re not willing to wait for someone to be killed and are determined to help local people get things done.
It’s quite right that councillors on Leeds City Council’s Transforming Services scrutiny board are calling for new laws to give local authorities more power to stop bus companies from being able to pull the plug on services they judge not to be profitable.
They want MPs to lobby the Government for a change in legislation so that people won’t be left without transport to shops, doctors, hospitals, school and work.
Labour Cllr Pauline Grahame chairs the board and is particularly concerned about the areas outside the city centre which people rely on to be able to use vital services.
It’s about time something was done. Especially in the light of the recent cuts in local services by Arriva in Woodlesford and Oulton to the 447 service, which not only gets people to work and shops in Leeds and Wakefield, but takes children to school, and also serves Pinderfields Hospital. It is an essential service which people rely on and should not have been cut for the sake of profits.
Measures must be taken to stop these bus companies.
The full Yorkshire Evening Post story.
Let’s stop the lorries now before it’s too late
Tonight’s Yorkshire Evening Post covers the issue of lorries tearing through Oulton. It really is about time something was done about the
traffic problems in our community. Residents have been raising concerns about
the worst danger hot spots for the past two years, yet still not being
heard. What are the Rothwell councillors doing about it?
The petition is going really well and we already have hundreds of names, any help that can be offered by residents in getting more names for the petition will be most welcome.
A fantastic idea from Rob Shaw, Rothwell resident and fed up passenger of the appalling 443 bus service which he uses to get from Rothwell into Leeds. His pledge to use a rival bus service to Arriva’s should someone come forward willing to take on the challenge of running the service can be seen at Rothwell bus pledge at the pledgebank website. It has already been signed by lots of similarly fed up Rothwell residents including myself, I too have experienced the delights of the 443 service including waiting for the buses only for them not to turn up at all, being late or being too early believe it or not! I think that Arriva also have a lot to learn about customer service and I think a rival small friendly company for Rothwell could do really well. So visit the site and show your support – people power really can work.
The story was covered in Friday’s Wakefield Express.
Hundreds call for action to tackle danger roads in Rothwell, Woodlesford, Oulton and Carlton
We have had an amazing response since starting the road safety
petition in November. It’s obviously of great concern to residents that
the situtation with speeding cars and lorries seems to be getting worse
in our area. We’re calling for action because we don’t want to wait for
the worst to happen before anyone does anything about it.
The issue is covered in today’s Wakefield Express.
We are compiling a list of the most dangerous spots in and around
Rothwell, Oulton, Woodlesford and Carlton in a bid to get a
co-ordinated approach to tackling the problem.
We have been collecting signatures since back in November and have
received a positive response from residents who have named the danger
spots. Holding a regular Labour Party street stall in Rothwell
Commercial Street has proved a great way of listening to residents and
campaigning on the issues that are important to local people.
Some of the danger spots highlighted for action include:
A639 Leeds/Wakefield Road and A642 (Aberford/Wakefield Road) used as
a motorway rat run often by lorries from Arla foods and Royal Mail at
Stourton.
A642 from the canal up into Woodlesford, particularly hazardous near the Maltings and Woodlesford Station.
Leeds Hill past central motor auctions, BP Garage, Rothwell Sports Centre and Royds School to M62.
Oulton/Rothwell Lane past Springhead Park.
Oulton Lane, Wood Lane, Haigh Road, Leadwell/Carlton Lane
Hundreds have already signed the petition. Many local people have
already asked to help with the petition, if you’d like to help please
contact me.
I was amazed when I heard from residents that there have been no buses
on the Wood Lane Estate after six o’ clock since August. I was asked to
take the issue up at our regular Labour Party street stall on
Commercial Street in Rothwell.
The buses were axed because of
anti social behaviour. However, this is now six months ago and no-one
has put the necessary pressure on to get this matter sorted out on
behalf of residents. What are the Rothwell LibDem councillors doing?
I
have taken the matter up with Metro who have now asked for urgent talks
with Arriva and the police. See the story in last night’s Yorkshire Evening Post.
It’s
just not good enough that people can’t get home after six, and in order
to get out in the evening they have to walk the cold, dark streets.
Nobody
wants a bus that is unsafe, but it is grossly unfair to the majority of
residents on the estate who have done nothing wrong to penalise them
for the anti social behaviour of a few. A solution has to be found to
get the buses running again asap as safely as possible..
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