Greens welcome new scheme to protect Lockwood from flooding

Cllr Andrew Cooper on the scene in February 2022

Newsome Ward Green Party Councillor Andrew Cooper has welcomed a new scheme to protect businesses in Lockwood from flooding.

.In West Yorkshire approximately 37,000 residential properties and 15,000 commercial properties fall within a flood zone. Lockwood is one of those areas.

Councillor Cooper, who is a member of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Climate Change, Energy and Environment Committee, that approved the scheme said,

“Back in February 2022 a number of businesses down Albert Street and Queens Mill Road were flooded. I remember it well as I was on the scene at the time redirecting traffic away from flooded roads. Several businesses in the area were badly affected and some businesses were out of action for several months

The half million pound scheme funded by West Yorkshire Combined Authority will install 2 pipes to redirect flood water back into the River Holme further downstream and reduce the risk of flooding for 28 businesses.

Heavy rainfall events are becoming more frequent due to the impacts of climate change. So we need to invest in schemes which make homes and businesses more resilient to climate change.

References

See Page 64

(Public Pack)Agenda Document for Climate, Energy and Environment Committee, 13/02/2024 14:00 (moderngov.co.uk)

Greens run New Year’s Day Bus Service for a record 31st year.

Sue & Andrew with the minibus

Newsome Ward Green Councillors are running a free, volunteer run bus service on New Year’s Day. 

The bus service runs from Berry Brow, through Newsome village, the Town Centre and up to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. It has run for 31 years with only one break in 2020 due to the pandemic. Newsome Green Party Councillors Andrew Cooper, Sue Lee-Richards and Karen Allison all volunteer on the service. Sue’s husband Gideon Richards also helps with the driving.

Councillor Andrew Cooper said,

“We never thought, when we began the service, that it would still be going all these years later. We used to run a service on Boxing Day until services were reintroduced a few years ago. 

Andrew  & Karen putting up timetables

“People really appreciate the service. It helps them see relatives in hospital, do some shopping and nip out to see friends for a drink or a meal. Sometimes we pick people standing at bus stops who have no idea that there are no bus services running on New Year’s Day.

“Our New Year’s Bus service is something we look forward to each year. There ‘s always a new story each year of someone we have helped who would otherwise be stuck or having to pay for an expensive taxi. We are grateful to Kirklees Council who now loan us the minibus for the day.”

Timetable for the bus service

The Newsome Centre - Nearly there!

It was around 3 years ago that I and Councillors Karen Allison and Sue Lee-Richards were approached by the Church of England regarding the possibility of us taking on St John the Evangelist Church, in Newsome, for community use. It should have been a difficult choice. Taking on an old building with all the costs and upkeep that came with it. But it was a choice we couldn't walk away from. A large building in the centre of Newsome with huge potential for events, conferences and a community cafe, something the village lacks. A place where people could hold celebrations and come together as a community. We couldn't ignore that vision and started making plans.

We established a Community Benefit Society as the body we would need to purchase and develop the centre. We commissioned local architects, One17, to help us realise our vision for the building and to assess the maintenance and improvments we will need to make to the building. We have raised funding to pay for the building and carry out some essential repairs. We have secured planning permission from Kirklees for change of use from a place of worship to a community centre with ancilliary cafe. That is the short version of the story. There have been some frustrations and bumps in the road along the way.

We know that getting ownership of the building is only the beginning of the journey. The roof will need replacing. We have a variety of tarpaulins and buckets collecting rainwater from various points in the roof. The kitchen and toilet block are in a very poor state and we need a small extension and a refit to bring it up to modern standards. There's a lot more that we have planned including upgrading the heating and insulation, creating meeting rooms, removing the pews to give us a usable halls for dancing, exercise clases and events.

We have got local people together to discuss our vision for the building and to get their ideas and input. As local Councillors we have initiated saving the building for the community but now we will need the help of the community to ensure it has a sustainable long term future. There is a lot of work to do but it will be worth it.

If you can donate to our Crowdfunder it would be really appreciated

Make a pledge to The Newsome Centre (Phase 2) Proposal on Spacehive

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Motion to Kirklees Council - Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza

That this Council 

1. notes:

1. That East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and Gaza are illegally occupied by Israel; and that Gaza has been subject to 16 years of blockade

2. That the Israeli government has been withholding essential resources from Gaza and bombing civilian targets, such as schools, hospitals, and media organisations all of which constitute war crimes

3. That under Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide is defined as certain acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” and that, under Article I,  the UK has confirmed that genocide is a crime under international law which it undertakes to prevent and to punish

4. the UK, at the UN Security Council on 18 October 2023,  refused to vote for “humanitarian pauses” to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza

5. The deep concern expressed about the conflict in Gaza by thousands of people in Kirklees.

6. The impact of conflict on displacing people from their homes makes them asylum seekers and refugees who then understandably flee to safer countries like the UK.

7. The Hamas attacks on October 7th when hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed and taken hostage.

2. believes:

1. All atrocities committed against civilians by Hamas or the Israeli Defence Force must be condemned and investigated 

2. All forms of racism, including anti-Palestinian racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia have no place in Kirklees and condemns any attacks on Palestinian, Jewish or Muslim people

3. All political leaders have a responsibility to try to prevent genocide, such as the annihilation of the civilian population of Gaza 

4. That Hamas should release all hostages.

5. The state of Israel is enacting a system recognised as apartheid by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’tselem and the South African government

6. The only way to secure peace between Israelis and Palestinians is for a just political settlement based on the end of the occupation of Palestinian territories and an end to discriminatory apartheid policies, settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing

3. And therefore resolves to:

1. Ask the Chief Executive to write to the UK government, requesting it to 

1. call for an immediate permanent ceasefire and to vote for this at the UN

2. cease all arms sales to Israel and end military aid for Israel

3. call on Israel to resume negotiations with the Palestinians;

4. ask to push for an end to the occupation and all parties to adhere to United Nations Resolution 242

5. ask all parties to release hostages and prisoners held in “administrative detention”

Green scheme to slow traffic on busy road goes ahead

Cllrs Allison, Lee-Richards & Cooper on Kaye Lane

A scheme to slow traffic on a busy road is going ahead following a funding proposal from Newsome Ward Green Party Councillors.

The traffic calming is being installed on Ashes Lane, Kaye Lane and Westgate on the road leading from Castle Hill to Almondbury.  It is well known as being prone to speeding cars and there have been collisions demolishing walls with many local people concerned that it was only a matter of time before someone is killed on this stretch of road. The works are scheduled to  be carried out between Monday 24th July and  Friday 4th of August during which time the road will be closed to traffic.

Newsome Ward Green Party Councillor Andrew Cooper said,

“ I am really pleased this work is finally being carried out. Local residents have been calling for action to reduce speeds for some time. The scheme did not meet Kirklees Council’s criteria for funding so we had to use our limited local budget to ensure the traffic calming went ahead. As the Westgate part of the schemes and some of Kaye Lane were in the neighbouring Almondbury Ward we pooled our local budget with the Almondbury Councillors budget to enable the scheme to get the go ahead. The important thing is that this will make a dangerous road safer.”

Newsome residents protest at Kirklees plans to build on green space

Protest at Mansion Gardens

 

Newsome residents have gathered to protest against Kirklees proposals to  build on 2 well loved green spaces.

Kirklees Council will soon be consulting on its plans to  build 32 houses on land adjacent to Jackroyd Lane in Newsome and a further 40 houses at nearby Blue Bell Hill.

Local Newsome Green Party Councillors Sue Lee- Richards, Karen Allison and Andrew Cooper are backing local residents against the Labour led Council’s plans

Councillor Sue Lee-Richards said,

“Both the land at Jackroyd Lane and at Blue Bell Hill  are valued by the local community. The Jackroyd Lane site is part of a green corridor that goes all the way up to Castle Hill and land at Blue Bell Hill and provides recreational space for people in the middle of a built up area between Newsome and Taylor Hill. The importance of access to nearby green spaces for good mental health has become really clear to so many of us through the covid lockdown. Kirklees needs to protect green land not build on it. There are plenty of brownfield sites we should develop on if we really care about our local environments.”

Councillor Karen Allison said,

“The access to both sites is very poor with narrow roads through built up residential areas towards the fields the Council wants to build on. It would mean lots more traffic on what are currently quiet estates. It will also be a nightmare for residents during the construction phase.”

Councillor Andrew Cooper said,

 “We are not NIMBYs, and we want development in the Newsome Ward. We have been actively seeking to encourage new homes on the Newsome Mills, a brownfield site, where there is good access. This makes far more sense than Kirklees proposals to build on local green fields. They should drop these plans and respect the views of local people"

Jackroyd Lane protest

Cllr Andrew Cooper's speech at the final service at St John's Church, Newsome - 5/3/23

 

It is my role today to talk about the future of St John’s

When I and my colleagues Sue Lee-Richards and Karen Allison were told of the likely closure of the church we were all of the same view and that was that it had to be saved for the community.

We have lost so much locally. Newsome Mills due to arson and the Mill ponds due to the Planning Inspectorate. So when it came to St Johns our view was ‘Not this time and not this building’

We formed a Community Benefit Society, registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, with the express aim of making the church building into a Community café and Event space. So to be clear it is not the council taking over the building but the community of Newsome itself.

We will respect the buildings past and what it has meant to generations of local people who have been christened, married and had funerals here, We recognise the history and heritage of the building and we are pleased that the Church of England will continue to have a relationship with us as a member of ‘The Newsome Centre’s’ board.

Our vision, informed by hundreds of conversations with local people is to have a warm comfortable place where the community can come together, have a cuppa, have a chat, share the ups and downs of everyday life, maybe bend the ear of your local cllr.

We want people to celebrate life events here so not weddings but wedding receptions, not funerals but wakes certainly. We want this to be a centre for community events and a small conference centre.  It could well be a space for exercise classes. You have no idea how much I am looking forward to attending my first Yoga or pilates class here.

We will need your help to realise this vision. Architects One17 have costed up the elements of the project and we have a plan. The first job is to purchase the building and the Church of England are being very reasonable but we still need to raise the cash so please support our crowdfunder if you can and come and look at our plans in the Scout Hut after this service and ask us questions. We have set a target of 150 days from now to raise the funds needed. After that we will be looking to raise the money needed for a new toilet and kitchen block and we have a plan to raise those funds also.  Then we hope to be up and running.

Today is the end of one chapter of this building’s life and an important one but we have hope, and we have a plan and we have the goodwill of the community, so there will be a future/