Greens call for an end to bottled water for Kirklees Council meetings

Green Councillors have called for the practice of providing bottled water for certain Council meetings to end.

Councillor Andrew Cooper was at a recent Public Question Time event at Huddersfield Town Hall about the Kirklees Budget where leading Councillors from each of the political groups on the Council were answering questions. Bottled ' Harrogate Spring Water' was provided for speakers at the event.

Councillor Cooper went to the Huddersfield Town Hall kitchen and filled up a jug of water to show how simple the tap water alternative to bottled water was.

"I was astounded that we were being provided with bottled water, which costs the Council money when we can get the same thing from a tap in the Town Hall kitchen just a few yards away for free. Not only is there the financial cost of transporting bottled water but also the cost of getting rid of the glass bottle afterwards. It doesn't make financial or environmental sense. What really annoyed me was the fact we were given single use plastic cups as well when we could have used a reusable glass."

The saving to the Council of getting rid of bottled water will only be small but it will demonstrate that the Council has a culture of thinking carefully about how it spends public money because if we are not wasting it on bottled water then we can use that money on services for local people."

The Greens will include the banning of bottled water in their amendment to the Kirklees Budget that will be decided at the next Full Council meeting on Wednesday February 14th.

Greens secure funding for Hall Bower Defibrillator

Newsome Green Party Councillors have secured  Kirklees funding to back a community led campaign to get a defibrillator for Hall Bower near Newsome.

Hall Bower Athletic Club which is run by community volunteers has been fundraising for the life saving equipment which provides emergency help for people who have suffered a heart attack. The local campaign by the Club, 'Keep Hall Bower's heart beating' has already raised £355. Newsome Green Councillors have secured a further £1000 from a Kirklees budget to support local projects.

Councillor Andrew Cooper said,

" This has been a fantastic and enthusiastic campaign by local people to get a defibrillator which could mean the difference between life and death for someone suffering a heart attack in the village. This  funding together with the funding raised by the community means that the project can now go ahead and the defibrillator can be installed on the wall of the club."

Hall Bower Athletic Club are still raising funds for the ongoing upkeep of the defibrillator when it is installed and will be holding a 24 hour pool Marathon on the 3rd of March. This will help ensure the equipment is insured and maintained.

PRESS RELEASE - Kirklees overlooked in Regional Investment Guide

The Leeds City Region Investment Guide 2017 - 'Insider Location' is aimed at attracting businesses to  West Yorkshire and nearby Councils such as York, Barnsley, Harrogate and Selby. In its 28 pages it has a total of 46 photographs illustrating why moving businesses to our region is such a good thing to do. Not one of the photographs is from Kirklees. Bradford, Wakefield, Calderdale and Leeds all feature but not a single picture from Huddersfield or the wider Kirklees area.

Councillor Andrew Cooper said

"In the text there is scant mention of our area. A fleeting reference to the HD1 development and outline planning permission in Bradley and that is pretty much it. So I have asked the Labour Administration of Kirklees Council how influential do they feel they are at the Regional level? With millions pounds worth of funding now being handled at the West Yorkshire and wider City Region level it is vital that Kirklees Council is 'on the ball' with attracting appropriate investment into the area".

"The Council have clearly 'dropped the ball' on this one. Simply having one person in the Council with the ability to give a draft copy the 'once over' would have been sufficient. Clearly that did not happen and clearly no one at the regional level thought it would matter too much if Kirklees had very little mention and no visibility in the document. The Kirklees Labour Cabinet needs to reflect on their role in attracting investment to our area and how influential it really is at the increasingly important regional level. If they don't we all could lose out."

Contact - Cllr Andrew Cooper - 07721 348619

The signs are good!

Green Party Councillors Karen Allison and Andrew Cooper spent their Sunday morning cleaning the boundary signs for Newsome and Berry Brow in the area they represent on Kirklees Council.

Councillor Karen Allison said 

"Every couple of years the grime and sap builds up on our local Village signs so we spent a couple of hours going round and giving them a really good clean.  It is an easy way of helping give a good impression of our area. There's nothing worse than entering an area with a mucky sign. It makes the place look uncared for. We could have sent an email to someone in the Council to go and do it but it was easier to fill a bucket with soapy water and just go and do it. Its such an easy thing to do and shows that Councillors can be about more than just sitting around in meetings all day."

Councillor Cooper said,

" The sign cleaning is something we have done for a few years now but volunteering is part of our ethos which is why we do a Christmas Bus Service and organise local community clean ups. I think its important that people see  their elected representatives not just talking the talk but walking the walk"