Ossett News Posted January 9, 2022 Report Share Posted January 9, 2022 ----- Week ending Sunday 9 January 2022 ----- Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you had the Christmas and holiday that you wanted, with family & friends. Thank you to everyone who has sent me cards and good wishes via Facebook. This is greatly appreciated. 2022 is here, let’s hope that it is a better year than 2021 and that we can return to some form of normality as we start to live with COVID-19. Monday being a Bank Holiday, I used the day to catch up on the emails received over the Christmas break. Then straight back into the swing of things from Tuesday morning. I am sure you know that as well as being a Councillor for Horbury & South Ossett, I have a cabinet role with Wakefield Council. Tuesday was taken up with Cabinet issues ranging from budget discussions to the redevelopment of the abandoned ABC cinema on Kirkgate. This resulted in a photograph and article on the front page of the Wakefield Express. Standing here with the Council Leader – Cllr Denise Jeffery and local Ward Cllr Margaret Isherwood. Wednesday morning, I was in Horbury and met up with two great groups of people. Starting out with the Senior Citizens’ Support Group coffee morning. This was their first event of the new year, with over 100 seniors were enjoying a great social gathering and some time together. I then moved on to the Methodist Church and had coffee with some shoppers who had called in for a coffee, cake and somewhere warm to sit on a very cold morning. I can confirm that I was coffee’d out by lunchtime on Tuesday! On Wednesday afternoon, I joined an online meeting of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. The meeting was to discuss matters in relation to the Business and Economy of West Yorkshire. A report was discussed that in my opinion was heavily focused on the economy of Leeds. I voiced my opinion that there are more towns and cities in West Yorkshire than Leeds, and they were doing some really good stuff. This was picked up by a reporter for the Yorkshire Post and featured on the website – https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/councillor-criticises-west-yorkshire-combined-authority-for-being-too-focused-on-leeds-3517157 I really must learn to keep my mouth closed – but I needed to make this point. In the last few weeks of December, a report was published by the Centre for Cities; this report proved my point that Wakefield District and Huddersfield were performing very well compared with over 150+ large towns and cities across the UK. More details can be found here - https://www.centreforcities.org/data/high-streets-recovery-tracker/ COVID-19 has not gone away. Cases across the Country and our district are increasing, please follow the most up-to-date Government advice. As a very sensible precaution, all Wakefield Council meetings have been transferred to online and as many people are working from home. The current government rules do not allow for full Council meetings to be held online. They have to be face to face. Councils across the country are asking for a change to be made to this rule. The discission has been taken that the January full Council meeting has been cancelled as the Council Chamber is not large enough to safely and with social distancing accommodate all 63 Councillors, senior Council Officers, and members of the press and public. I will be restarting my advice sessions next Saturday at Horbury Library, subject to COVID-19 regulations. The session will start at 10:15 and last until 11:30am – no appointment required. My next session in South Ossett will be on Saturday 5th February at the Baptist Church times as above. Fly tipping across the whole country is a massive issue, and the regular dumping at Horbury Lagoons is a regular occurrence. So, earlier in the week new prominent signage was installed in the Lagoons car park. I have been working with Council Officers for many months to get these installed. There is also some covert CCTV around the site, which will result in action being taken against anyone found to be fly tipping in one of Wakefield most beautiful locations. In the Horbury Co-op you may well have seen the donations bin for our Food bank, located at Christ Church in South Ossett. There is now a second donation bin in the Co-op this one is for toiletries, which are being donated to the Dementia Unit at Pinderfields Hospital. If you can support either of these two great causes, your donations would be greatly appreciated. You may have seen a public notice in the Wakefield Express in relation to Speed Tables being installed on New Road/Wakefield Road in Horbury. Speed Tables are large, raised areas in the road, designed to slow down traffic. Three tables are planned along the road – full details can be found on my Facebook page. The installation work will be carried out later this year. I was informed of a damaged wooden post in the children’s play area in Carr Lodge Park. This was reported to the Council and the post has been inspected and will be repaired. Thank you to the residents who took the time to let me know about this. In the time between Christmas and New Year I joined a community litter pick. Around 10 people met, and we spent just over 1 hour – making a real difference. Around 12 bags of rubbish were collected from the streets around Horbury town centre. Next week, there will be another community litter pick, this time around South Ossett, starting on Baptist Lane and working around Teall Street and the Manor Road areas. Watch out for meeting times on social media. Have you ever thought of becoming a School Governor? This is something I have done for the last 30 years plus. Being involved in many primary schools across the district. I find this to be very enjoyable and gives me a link the community. Many Wakefield schools are looking for new members and you could have the skills they are looking for. The time commitment is as much as you want to give. The minimum requirement is to attend around 4-6 meetings per year and to be a critical friend to the head teacher and the school. If you are interested, you can either visit this website or call Wakefield Council’s Governor Services Team and have a conversation with them. There details are – governor@wakefield.gov.uk or call 01977 723116. Please keep safe and take care in these difficult times and if you need help, give me a shout! Darren View the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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