Jackanory Time - Lib Dems

It's coming up to local election time when the prospective political parties will be posting their campaign blurb.  The Liberal Democrats have been quick off the mark and we were intrigued to see the claims made about 'Tackling Speeding' (WHERE?), and 'Supporting local groups' (WHICH?):

The LAWRRAG campaign is the longest running campaign in the area and although Lib Dem Councillor Golton is fully aware of the campaign having been 'involved' in the early years, the Lib Dems have done nothing to 'tackle' the speeding we have campaigned about for 13 years, and Councillor Golton hasn't responded to email correspondence with LAWRRAG for a number of years, let alone offered any support.

Staggering Hypocrisy from Labour councillor!

LAWRRAG is a non-political group and at various stages during the past 13 years  representatives from each of the three main political parties have been involved, each always being quick to blame the 'opposition' for their lack of any action. A typical example of this can be seen below 'Lib Dems - Soft on Speeding', put out by Karen Bruce, then a Labour Party campaigner.  Given that since this first appeared we have a Labour led council, and that two out of the three Ward councillors are Labour members this really does take the biscuit!

It can, and does, happen!

We're a little late with this one, it is an article from the YEP, 23 June 2012 about the success of a campaign by schoolchildren in Cookridge to have the speed limit 'slashed' to 20mph.  'Well done' to them.  We have never asked for a speed reduction, just an enforcement of the current speed limit, but what this does show is that some members of the public are listened to, and that some councillors (appear to) take action on behalf of their local communities. 

click to view

Far from a reduction in the speed limit along the A639/A642, Leeds City council highways personnel suggested increasing the limit! 


With regard to what if anything is happening around Royds School, interested parties will have to check with the local councillors, who took it upon themselves to deal with traffic and road safety issues that were of concern to the school ... 7 years ago. 

New Online Petition - Please sign

Many thanks to Mark for setting up this online petition, please take the time to add your name:

Click here to add your support.

Thank you.

Proposed meeting date still to be confirmed

There have been a number of queries as to whether the August meeting has been arranged - Due to individuals being away on holiday no date has been confirmed, contact will be made with all interested parties as soon as something is known.

Ward councillor support - Update

Karen Bruce has made the following statement of support for inclusion in a short article expected to appear in the July issue of the Rothwell and District Record:

"I recognise that speeding traffic and lorries are a very serious issue within the ward which has long needed tackling and I will support residents to try to do what I can to help."

The purpose of the article is to show that the campaign continues, and to attract more active support.

Meeting with ward councillor, Karen Bruce

On Wednesday 8th of June a small group met with Karen Bruce, and her husband Stuart, to discuss the traffic issues causing greatest concern to the local community. Karen has actively supported the campaign in the past and is under no illusion that things have got better.

A number of fresh ideas were raised as to how things might be moved forward, and these will be reported upon as and when there is 'more meat on the bones'.

The meeting was encouraging, and thanks go out to Karen and Stuart, for their time, and input.

A further meeting is scheduled for July and dates and times will be posted once determined.

Big thanks to the Rothwell and District Record

A big thanks goes out to the Rothwell and District Record for their continued support and interest in what we are up to.

The bad news is that unfortunately the writer missed the dead-line for the June 2011 issue, in which it had been intended that we let the local community know about the proposed meeting with the new councillor, Karen Bruce, asking if anyone would like to attend.

The good news is that many of the 'old' supporters have confirmed their interest in attending, and have also confirmed that they have neighbours who would like to voice their concerns.

Details of proposed dates and times will be posted here and will be circulated to those on th eemail circulation list.

Thanks for the positive response.

The email that went out yesterday asking if any supporters would like to meet with newly elected councillor Karen Bruce was met with a very positive, response.

Proposed dates and times will be circulated as soon as available.

Wanted - budding film makers.

A couple of years ago a night-time HGV ban was brought into force in Lofthouse and Ouzlewell Green, this came about through local residents action, supported by their Ward councillors. One of the measures taken was to film the night-time HGV traffic passing through the area. When shown to council and highways personnel the noise disturbance was clearly evident, and eventually a ban was introduced.

Any takers?

In a nutshell

There were many comments that could be taken from the recent emails of support however this one sums up the feelings of many of us:

Something clearly needs to be done about the traffic in Oulton, it is clearly ruining what has historically been a lovely place to live.

Complain, complain, complain!

We have previously referred to the fact that not enough people are complaining, and although we now have the support of over one hundred households, very few people have complained as individuals to the councillors or the council. We will continue to campaign and complain on everyone's behalf until possitive action is taken but THE MORE COMPLAINTS THE BETTER!

The councillor supposedly dealing with traffic issues is Stewart Golton stewart.golton@leeds.gov.uk

We can happily forward emails to Cllr. Golton with the individual complainants name and address withheld if preferred.

Support and communications

We have only just got around to sending out 'thank you' emails to everyone who responded to the flyer campaign, late last year.

Email communications - Our preferred email address as mentioned before is now lawrrag@googlemail.com (there are mail-merge and MS Outlook issues with the ymail account for those wondering why the change). Your email address - For reasons explained below we will only be sending unsolicited emails to notify you of important events or important postings on this site. A number of emails of support were sent from works email addresses, if there are liable to be problems in receiving emails at these addresses, or you would prefer to change your email address for updates please let us know. Spam filters - We do know that some email accounts will filter web-based emails out as spam. We will of course continue to reply to email correspondence.

Change to communication via the website - We originally communicated all information by email which eventually led to a couple of individuals asking to be removed from the circulation list because it was all getting a bit too 'intense' for them!

Support - update & Elected representatives response

In October 2009 the site was officially launched, promoted by a flyer campaign, and an article in the Rothwell and District Record. To simplify matters we asked that anyone wishing to add their support simply sent an email or text saying 'Support'. Not surprisingly there was an excellent response, and it is clear that the traffic situation also impacts upon a lot of people who don't live along Leeds Wakefield Road.

The launch of the site was also brought directly to the attention of councillors, MPs and prospective MPs, and we have yet to receive an acknowledgement from any of them!

Can you help? + An example of what we are up against!

Help? - We have already identified other areas in Leeds where measures have been put in place to address some of the traffic issues that we face. If you are aware of any recent traffic or road safety alterations anywhere, not just in Leeds, that may have been put in place to improve life for the local community, ie 'people before traffic', and can provide a little bit of detail then drop us an email, and this of course includes HGV bans .......

HGV bans on A-class roads - Some years ago at a meeting with a senior, council highways department officer, in a local pub, the matter of HGV bans was raised, the officer, new to the post, stated that the council could not consider an HGV bans on the A639 because an HGV ban on an A-class road would set an unworkable precedent ... it was pointed out to him that he was sat less than 100yards away from the A642, an A-class road with an HGV ban! This is the same officer who has gone on to state that he (personal opinion) does not believe that any A-class roads in Leeds should have HGV bans ... there are dozens of them! If you can identify any in and around Leeds please let us know, we won't have got them all.

Official launch 'Welcome'

A very quick welcome to those of you visiting the site as a result of the recent 'flyer' campaign. The emails and texts offering support started coming in the same day the flyers were delivered which confirms the strength of concern that exists.

If you scan through some of the earlier postings on the site you will see that guidance, regulations, and laws, are already in place to protect communities from the traffic problems blighting the area ...

surprisingly the biggest problem that we face is in getting people to register a complaint

... so if you haven't already done so simply text 'support' to 07985 991072, or email lawrrag@ymail.com typing 'support' as the subject. If you have neighbours without email or text please complain on their behalf as well (assuming that they want to of course).

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