LITTLE WOODHOUSE COMMUNITY FORUM
7pm on Tuesday, 3rd July 2012 at Leeds Civic Hall
Chair: Cllr. Gerry Harper
AGENDA
1. Welcome from the Chair
2. Apologies for absence
3. Minutes of last Forum meeting: 3/4/12
4. Matters Arising
5. Streetscene and Enforcement
6. Housing issues:
(a) Kendal Carr
(b) anti-social behaviour in the Burley Road area
7. Police
8. Planning Applications
9. Date of next meeting
10. A.O.B.
Above is an artist’s impression of what the new police station will look like.
At Wednesday evening’s meeting of the Hyde Park and Woodhouse Forum, residents were told by the police that a leaking roof at their Belle Vue Road depot is necessitating their move from the depot to new accommodation provided by Leeds University on the university campus. Apparently, over a number of years, the police have allowed the building to fall into a state of disrepair. and now don’t have any money left to fix it. We were also told that the move will achieve annual savings of over £100,000 per year, though it was never made clear how these savings would be achieved, given that the police own the Belle Vue Road depot, and, we were told, will be renting from the university. We were also told that the proceeds from the sale of the depot will be used to offset the effects of the cuts.
At the same time as we were being told all this, the police were proceeding with plans to create a new multi million pound police station conveniently situated opposite the football ground on Elland Road (pictured above). In a time of cuts, where is the money coming from for this? It would appear that the police do have the money to repair the roof of their Belle Vue Road depot. It’s just that they choose not to.
The Yorkshire Evening Post has published an account of the police’s scheme to build a new police station on Elland Road.
From left to right in the picture above are, Zahid Butt, Inspector Ian O’Brien, Divisional Commander David Oldroyd, Councillor Gerry Harper and Chris Dickinson. Newly elected councillor Christine Towler was also present at the meeting. The meeting began with an address from Commander Oldroyd.
Commander Oldroyd The depot costs £130,000 per annum to run. We could rent the new building from the university for about £20,000 per annum. Parts of the old building are condemned. The roof leaks. It’s too big for what we need. The majority of it is a huge car park. Our first option was to close it and move to Weetwood or Pudsey. But this wasn’t a practical solution. The clock was ticking with regards to the Environmental Health people and the Fire Brigade. Then we came across the university site which would save us £100,000. We can move everything from Belle Vue Road to the university. We’ve several parking spaces at the rear of the premises. There’ll still be a Starburst Effect as officers leave the new building. I’m not getting into bed with the university.
Sue Thomas There won’t be a Starburst Effect on Kelso Road where I live.
Gentleman Will someone be keeping an eye on the crime rate here after you’ve moved?
This was the scene at 9am this morning on Woodhouse Square.
This meeting has been called to provide a Police and Community Safety update and will discuss the proposed relocation of Neighbourhood Policing Team from the Belle Vue Police Depot
Our thanks to everyone involved, especially Barbara Mitchell for making today’s picnic such a success. Here are some photos that Maggi took showing people having a good time. And here’s what Mandy said about it:
Playing ‘body scrabble’ summed it all up really – a bunch of people, from all walks of life, get together and make something lovely happen !
Great music, activities, lovely refreshments attracted an interesting variety of people – who will be able to pass on the message about the benefits of a shared community.
The local police submitted a planning application (ref 12/01402/FU) to relocate from the Belle Vue Road depot to a site on Woodhouse Lane owned by Leeds University. The proposed new site is located opposite the old BBC studios.
The planning application states:
The proposal is for West Yorkshire Police to relocate the Belle Vue Neighbourhood Policing Team and Proactive Crime teams into the building to be used as an operational base for local policing. Currently the existing teams for this area are located in Belle Vue Garages on Belle Vue Road. These premises are in a state of disrepair and with the growing spending pressures it is not economically viable to the Force to spend money on these premises are earmarked for disposal.
As a result of this consideration, the Local Division has invested time and effort into negotiations with Leeds University with regard to obtaining access to premises in or around the University Campus.
