๐Week ending Saturday 4th May 2024๐
The Local Elections are now behind us and we three here in Horbury & South Ossett had an amazingly positive campaign. All our literature highlighted what we have been doing to help and support our residents, community groups and businesses.
This resulted in a thumping great win for Darren who received nearly 65% of the entire votes cast on Thursday.
The breakdown of votes was as follows โ
Darren Byford โ Labour Party โ 2,409 votes, Tory candidate 618 votes, Independent candidate 304, Liberal Democrat candidate 223. Darrenโs majority was 1,791 which was more than all the total of all the other votes cast. This majority was the largest across the whole of the Wakefield District.
After the counting was completed and the results declared Darren said โHe was very humbled by the vote, and would continue to do his job, to the best of his abilities across the whole of the Ward of Horbury & South Ossett'
The results across the Wakefield District reflected our result, with Labour candidates being returned in 21 out of the 22 seats being contested.
It was also very pleasing to see in neighbouring Wards of Wakefield Rural and Ossett strengthening their Labour Teams, with the election of Andy Nicholls in Rural Ward and Duncan Smith in Ossett. Working together to make a real and lasting difference.
Due to restrictions in place during the Pre-Election Period, we have not published a Weekly Blog for the past few weeks. This period has now ended so we can now update you to what Darren, Deb and Darren have been doing across the Ward.
This Tuesday evening Deb, Gwen & Darren held our first evening litter picking session. Joined by around 7 volunteers we made a tremendous difference in the Storrs Hill area between Horbury Bridge and South Ossett and other side streets and passages.
In one-hour, we cleared over 10 very full bags of rubbish. The amount of detritus dumped from moving vehicles on Storrs Hill was, to say the least, staggering!
From soft drinks cans to many dozens of alcohol cans collected from the road edge along with glass bottles, crisp packets, drug packaging, bits of vehicles and what looked like a large starter motor!
On a positive note, the abandoned rusty old fridge, recently reported as being dumped in the layby on Storrs Hill has been removed by the Council.
On Wednesday morning, Darren helped with a pilot installation of the first two of our new Horbury street name signs. What we thought would be a simple installation job, became more complicated as we needed some specialist equipment. The first two signs were installed on Dovecote Lane and Hall Cliffe Road.
Installation has continued over the weekend, led by Graham Roberts and volunteers from Horbury Civic Society and Horbury Village Partnership. Most comments on social media have been very supportive.
The signs are replacing some very old and tatty signs with new clearer text and featuring the Horbury Crest of 3 Castles. Watch out for more information on this project as we move steadily across the town centre.
On Monday 22nd April we met with a local head teacher to discuss parking issues around their school site. The meeting was very positive and hopefully over the next few months we should see some improvements.
Parking around most schools throughout the UK is an issue. There are very few options available to stop parking, but we can encourage โresponsible parkingโ to above all ensure the safety of children and other road users.
At 8.30am on Wednesday 24th April, Darren attended South Parade Primary School and was questioned by their School Councillors. This was a great Question and Answer session with many topics covered and was a great start to Darrenโs day. Thank you to the School Councillors and to the school staff for their invitation.
Thursday morning, 29th April saw โPurple Paradiseโ another independent shop opening on Queen Street in Horbury.
Gwen and Deb did the Official Opening duties, before all three of us went into the shop and bought some amazing gift items. Horbury & Ossett have an amazing range of family run businesses. Please try and support them and remember that every pound spent with them supports their families and our two High Streets.
Some very sad news was reported to Darren, Deb, and Gwen this week, followed by a great outpouring of upset on social media, about the removal of a wonderful flowering cherry tree on the corner of New Street and Sunroyd Hill.
This tree was not owned by Wakefield Council, it is a Wakefield District Housing (WDH) tree, and they carried out the removal. This picture was taken before the final removal.
After an email was sent to WDH by Darren, they replied by saying that โFollowing a survey by an arboriculturist it was identified that the tree was a risk as it had Ganoderma which I am advised is a fungus that attacks trees. The recommendation was to remove the tree and replant a new tree of a different species.โ
Whilst we have been out โnโ about this week we have noted & reported the following issues to the Council
โข Overflowing bin and fly tipping in Northgate car park
โข Poor road surface on Woodlands
โข Overhanging vegetation on Storrs Hill and Benton Hill
โข A pothole in the layby on Storrs Hill
โข Broken wooden fence on Shepstye
โข Fly tipping in a couple of locations
โข Blocked stream behind Reid Park Avenue
โข HGV sign still needs reaffixing down Hawkingcroft
โข Weeding and gutter sweeping around Junction Lane and Spa Croft Road in South Ossett
We hold two advice sessions each month. On the first Saturday of each month, we are at The Baptist Church on Junction Lane in South Ossett. On the third Saturday of each month, we are in Horbury Library. Each session starts at 10:15 am and we are available until 11:30am.
Also, you can contact any one of us, by calling 01924 763088, leave a message and we will come back to you.
Darren, Deb & Gwen
Working for our Communities, throughout the whole year!
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