Massive fine for city centre firm’s rubbish dumping

Caption: waste dumped at the rear of Poundstretchers at Crown Point Retail Park on Hunslet Road












A national chain of discount stores has been fined a massive £15,000 after employees at its Leeds city centre store dumped waste on the floor while nearby bins stood empty.

The Poundstretcher store at Crown Point Retail Park on Hunslet Road was fined a total of £15,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs at Leeds Magistrates Court yesterday after being prosecuted over two separate incidents by Leeds City Council.

The company’s Company Secretary, Mr Collinson, pleaded guilty to two offences of failing to store waste from the store in a suitable manner.

An officer from the council’s Environmental Action Team visited the store in January and then in June but on both occasions found large amounts of waste littered in the rear yard, despite nearby bins being left empty.

The company had been issued with a notice in November 2009 requiring it store its waste in appropriate bins. It was prosecuted for two offences under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Councillor Tom Murray, Leeds City Council’s executive board member for environmental services, said:
“The vast majority of businesses take their duty of care seriously and ensure that Leeds is kept clean, but a minority let everyone else down.
“I truly hope the size of this fine, one of the largest we’ve seen in some time, sends out a very clear message to businesses – you are responsible for your waste, and we will take action when you fail in that responsibility.”

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For media enquiries please contact:
Michael Molcher, Leeds City Council (0113) 224 3937
e-mail: michael.molcher@leeds.gov.uk

PHOTOS: images show Morley Bottoms’ past – and its future

New images show how the development of a former row of empty shops will transform a corner of Leeds.

Work has now begun on the £4 million pound 22 environmentally friendly homes at Chapel Hill in Morley Bottoms.

Architects images show the two-bed apartments that will replace the former shops and flats dating from 1908, which up until recently were located on the site. The site has now been cleared for construction and the new apartments will be completed by March 2011.

And photos from the council’s image archive, Leodis, also show the old buildings that the new development will replace. Chapel Hill, which runs sharply down to the junction at Morley Bottoms, is one of the most evocative parts of the city with its curved stone buildings and old shops. The top of Chapel Hill was also the birthplace of Herbert Asquith, the British prime minister between 1908 and 1916.

The new development – built through a partnership between Leeds City Council, Yorkshire Housing, Aire Valley Homes Leeds and the Homes and Communities Agency – will be built to extremely high environmental standards. The roof tiles will generate electricity for the homes, while also exporting energy back to the National Grid.

There will also be a Local Lettings Plan designed to help local people rent a home, as there is a need in the area for such accommodation. It is hoped the development will free up under-occupied council housing in the area.

As well as providing the site for the development, the council has also provided gap funding of £415,436 to regenerate the Morley Bottoms area. Yorkshire Housing was successful in bidding for a £1.341m grant from the HCA.

Councillor Peter Gruen, Leeds City Council’s executive board member for neighbourhoods and housing, said:
"It is exciting to see how Morley Bottoms will look once work has been completed on this development.
“The Chapel Hill apartments will compliment the regeneration of the area and further demonstrates the commitment from both the council and our partners to deliver more affordable housing across Leeds, even in these difficult economic times.
“They will be aimed at customers who are under-occupying larger family sized homes which will assist in increasing the number of family sized homes available to customers in the Morley area. That way everyone wins."

Mervyn Jones, Chief Executive at Yorkshire Housing, said:“We are delighted that work on the site is well underway and we have had a really positive reception from the local community.
”These properties are a wonderful example of how through partnership working, Yorkshire Housing is able to deliver modern and environmentally-friendly homes to the people who need them most.”

Notes to editors:
Yorkshire Housing is one of the largest social housing providers dedicated to Yorkshire, managing over 14,000 homes and providing a wide range of other services across the region. For more information visit: www.yorkshirehousing.co.uk

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is the single, national housing and regeneration delivery agency for England. Our role is to create opportunity for people to live in high-quality, sustainable places. We provide funding for affordable housing, bring land back into productive use and improve quality of life by raising standards for the physical and social environment. For more information visit homesandcommunities.co.uk

Caption: architects images show how the Chapel Hill development will look


Caption: how the site looks now

Caption: how the site looked before demolition

Caption: The view of Chapel Hill in August 1967. Please credit photo as "Leeds City Council - www.leodis.net"

Caption: the view of Chapel Hill from Morley Bottoms in January 1921. Please credit photo as "Leeds City Council - www.leodis.net"


ENDS
For media enquiries please contact:
Michael Molcher, Leeds City Council (0113) 224 3937
e-mail: michael.molcher@leeds.gov.uk

City's young people cause a storm at this year's Open Show

Picture caption: "One of the entries in this year's Open Show."

Media opportunity
When: Friday 6 August at 3pm
Where: Leeds Art Gallery, The Headrow, LS1 3AA
What: Children, young people and their parents will be joined by the curator and Cllr Ogilvie for a private view of the children and young people's show, before it opens this weekend.

On Sunday 8 August this year’s Open Show competition will open to the general public. Featuring an array of work from all ages – Leeds Art Gallery will be displaying the finalists’ work from this weekend.

More than 600 children and young people from 22 schools across Leeds submitted paintings, tapestries, drawings and sculptures to be considered for this year’s annual show. Find Your Talent have supported workshops across the city, which has resulted in an exceptionally high standard of entries from children and young people in Leeds.

Curated by the Leeds Met Gallery’s Young Curator’s Group, the under 18s section of the show will be displayed in the upstairs Number 14 Gallery alongside other submissions in the adult category; all children and young people’s work has been professionally framed especially for the show.

This year’s Open Show will be judged as part of the Yorkshire Evening Post's People's Choice Award. Voting slips and a ballot box will be available to visitors throughout the show, which runs until September 19th. The winner of 2010’s competition will be announced before the end of the exhibition.

Cllr Adam Ogilvie, executive board member responsible for leisure commented:
“Much of this year’s excellent artwork has come through local workshops which have helped develop the already burgeoning talent in Leeds’ primary and secondary schools. It is heartening to see so many gifted young artists’ work sitting alongside adult submissions – and matching them in quality, innovation, creativity and depth. This year’s Open Show has proved to be a resounding success”.

Opening times are: Monday & Tuesday 10am – 5pm; Wednesday 12pm – 5pm; Thursday – Saturday 10am – 5pm; Sunday 1pm – 5pm; and closed on bank holidays.

Admission is free.

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For further details contact Adelle Stripe, Find Your Talent communications, 0113 3950876, adelle.stripe@educationleeds.co.uk

Additional Information:
Find Your Talent was a national programme that offered children and young people regular involvement with arts and culture both in and out of school. It looked at ways of helping young people discover new things, express themselves, develop a passion and make the most of their talent. This included music, art, film, theatre, dance, digital media and exploring libraries, museums and heritage.

Leeds was one of ten Find Your Talent pathfinder areas in England and was selected from over 140 initial applications. It aimed to develop new partnerships between the arts, education, heritage, voluntary and youth sectors and provided cultural opportunities for young people aged 0-19 across the city.

For information on the Find Your Talent pathfinder visit findyourtalent.org and leedsfindyourtalent.wordpress.com

Young Curators
Run in conjunction with Leeds Metropolitan University the Young Curators scheme is a joint venture that links Leeds’ young people (aged 16-19) interested in art, design and museums to an ambitious programme of gallery-connected activities. Through FYT support Young Curators is now able to build on the successes of its first year and engage more young people in Arts Award qualifications.

For information on 2010’s Young Curator’s scheme contact Leeds Art Gallery education office on 0113 247854 or email sessions@leeds.gov.uk.
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New Chair for Healthy Leeds Partnership

The Leeds Initiative is pleased to announce Councillor Mark Dobson as the new Chair of the Healthy Leeds Partnership.

This announcement comes at an exciting time for the Healthy Leeds Partnership, as it looks to successfully deliver the new health white paper ‘Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS’. With Councillor Dobson’s chairmanship, and the continued support of Leeds City Council and the NHS, we are better placed than ever to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Leeds.

Councillor Dobson has welcomed this opportunity, and said:

"As the incoming Chair at a time of great change I look forward to taking on the many challenges that face the partnership. Collaborative working to deliver health and wellbeing will be at the top of our agenda and, as Chair, I look forward to promoting that work with both colleagues and public alike"

Councillor Dobson is no stranger to the health and wellbeing agenda. He successfully chaired the Leeds City Council health scrutiny board, and has led a number of major investigations into health issues of local, regional and national significance. He has been at the forefront of changes to local health services and has helped achieve a significant improvement in the relationship between scrutiny, the local NHS and the strategic health authority.

He is also a great believer in the community, so much so that he has been shortlisted for a national award for his work on giving communities a voice to influence the city’s decision makers. It is this skill and determination that will be crucial as the health and wellbeing agenda develops in Leeds.

To find out more about the Healthy Leeds Partnership visit www.leedsinitiative.org/healthy

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Notes to editors

The Healthy Leeds Partnership is one of the strategic partnerships of the Leeds Initiative, the city’s local strategic partnership. It sets the strategic direction of health and wellbeing work in Leeds. Councillor Dobson will join Healthy Leeds at a time of great challenge, change and opportunity. The health white paper ‘Liberating the NHS’, which was published earlier this July, outlines some key recommendations about the partnership becoming a statutory health and wellbeing board, which partners will need to take on board and start to develop.

For more information about the Healthy Leeds Partnership please contact the Joint Health Partnerships Manager Dan Barnett on 0113 395 0431 or email dan.barnett@leeds.gov.uk or visit our website at www.leedsinitiative.org/healthy.