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Is Headingley a sustainable community? Not at the moment … But Headingley Green Party believes that: ·
by giving more power to the local residents to determine their own future, ·
and by using those laws that exist to protect citizens from the excesses of others we could produce just that – a community that lasts. A community where people enjoy living when they are young. A community where
they are happy to bring up a young family. And a community where they are content to grow old, surrounded by their family, friends and younger generations. Lesley Jeffries (Contact me on lesley@webbjeff.free-online.co.uk or phone 2741011) |
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 Wh at is stopping this happening?Those who have been living in Headingley for more than three years – and many students too – recognise that we have a serious housing
problem. Landlords are making a lot of money from our housing stock. Meanwhile, students live in unacceptable conditions and local families and older people become isolated in their homes,
surrounded by a sea of unfamiliar faces. As more and more families move out, this problem gets worse and the students no longer feel that they are living in a friendly, and thriving
community. Headingley has become attractive to young people from around the city for drinking – and often that means drinking to excess. Those running the pubs and bars pay lip service to the problem, but as long as the anti-social behaviour is not happening on their premises, they are not interested. For them, it is simply a way of making large amounts of money, very fast. For us it is the deterioration of our quality of life. |
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Isn't this what we all know about Headingley? What you have just read may well sound familiar. We all spend hours of our time discussing the problems of Headingley with our friends and neighbours. And this knowledge – the expertise of local people – is what the Green Party will build on. Read on about our view of how to tackle the problems we have...
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Traffic and pollution The Supertram is coming (eventually), but Headingley Green Party does not think it will solve this problem on its own. Green Party policy is to
introduce a 20 m.p.h. limit throughout built up areas and to give priority to residents in residential streets, particularly in their use as part of their outdoor living space. The move
toward ‘Home Zones’, where pedestrians and cyclists as well as local residents, have priority, should be planned into the Supertram development, so that the tram does not displace cars onto
side streets and cause more ‘rat-running’ past our houses.
A key distinction between Green Party transport policy and others is the emphasis on managing demand rather than providing for anticipated demand. Policies that encourage vibrant mixed economies will cut down on the need to commute long distances. |
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Housing, planning and licensing The Green Party calls on the council to take advice from those in the community who have been campaigning on the housing problem for years.
The council already has the power to introduce registration of landlords but they have not used it. The planning department should be put under
pressure to refuse all future requests for houses in Headingley to change to HMOs. They should not wait for hard-pressed residents to write letters about each application. This can be done
now! As for the future, Headingley desperately needs an integrated strategy that will bring it back from the brink of ghettoisation. We don’t believe that most students want to live in a place that has no thriving community. But many more families will move out soon if the tide doesn’t turn. The Universities also have to be made to understand their responsibilities to the community. However, we do not believe that ‘zoning’ has helped our cause. Headingley is labelled as a local ‘town centre’ and this has contributed to the willingness of planning inspectors and magistrates, who have no personal experience of our community to allow developments such as new pubs and bars to go ahead. In the meantime, more enforcement of planning and licensing conditions must be funded by the council – whatever its colour. |
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Democracy The Green Party is the only party that has unequivocally supported the call of Headingley residents for a town council for central Headingley. The ‘Community Involvement Teams’ set up by Leeds City Council are not the answer to the problems of our area. For one thing, they are too large. Our CIT includes Kirkstall and Weetwood wards as well as Headingley. We believe that the local community is able to analyse its own problems as well as working out some of the solutions. Long-term residents, working with representatives of the transient community need democratic power to give them credibility with other authorities, such as police, the city council and the government. |
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Us Headingley Green Party members are members of this community, working within non-party-political community organisations to improve our environment. We don’t have all the answers – but we think the right way to go is to give everyone the chance to participate in building the future. |
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Your candidate is Lesley Jeffries. She works as a lecturer at Huddersfield University and has lived in Headingley for over 20 years with her partner and two children. |
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Published by
Headingley Green Party, 2 Grove Lane, Leeds LS6 2AP |
