Learn the secrets of Leeds’ award-winning gardeners

Caption: Take a tour around the Red Hall nursery

Leeds City Council’s award-winning parks and countryside team are to host a special open day later this month.

From 9am-3pm on Saturday 30 April the council’s garden nursery site off Red Hall Lane near Shadwell will be open free for visitors to see the range of work being carried out by the team who claimed a historic first-ever gold medal for the city of Leeds at last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The open day will feature guided tours of the nursery site, as well as demonstrations of seed sowing and maintaining hanging baskets as well as displays by the Parks Watch motorcycle unit and the landscaping technical team who produced the ingenious canal and lock gate design for the now-famous HESCO Garden 2010 which itself will be able to be seen by the public at Roundhay Park from next month.

Chelsea and the success Leeds has enjoyed there will be the subject of a special talk at the open day by Chelsea design team member Martin Walker while there will also be advice and guidance on how to get involved in this year’s Leeds in Bloom competitions.

The countryside rangers team will be leading a wildlife walk and quiz, while the nursery shop will also be open offering a wide range of plants and garden accessories.

Leeds City Council’s horticulture and nursery manager Paul Ackroyd said:

“We are all really looking forward to this special open day when we invite people of all ages in Leeds to come along for free and see how we work and what we do to look after all the parks and green spaces in the city.

“Most people won’t get to see the ‘behind-the-scenes’ aspect of the horticulture industry, so this is the perfect opportunity for people to come and take a look around, ask questions and pick up advice on anything to do with horticulture and gardening.”

Red Hall Nursery is located off Red Hall Lane, LS17 8NB. For more information about the open day, contact the nursery on 0113 237 5210.

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For media enquiries please contact:
Roger Boyde, Leisure media relations officer,
Tel 0113 247 5472, Email: roger.boyde@leeds.gov.uk

First local enterprise partnership meeting a great success

Exciting new prospects for business and economic growth were the focus of the Leeds City Region’s first board meeting between private and public sector representatives.

Board members agreed on a coordinated, committed and focussed approach to deal with barriers to growth and opportunities to support businesses and communities in the city region.

Neil McLean, chair of the Leeds City Region LEP Board said:
“We held a very positive and encouraging first meeting. Both the public sector and the private sector board members share the same objective for the LEP of developing a world class economy to be based on clear, realistic and well explained outputs.

“There is a genuine ambition as an integrated board to make real and rapid progress along the road to recovery and economic and employment growth.”

In their first meeting the board agreed the principles around its vision and objectives, the criteria to be used to assess options for an enterprise zone in the Leeds City Region, the importance of the government’s proposal on high speed rail in terms of benefits to the wider city region economy, and also agreed the way forward in terms of round 2 of the Regional Growth Fund and work required to develop a proposal for Government funding of superfast broadband in parts of the city region.

The board will be meeting monthly and minutes of these meetings will be available through the Leeds City Region Leaders Board papers, which can be found online on www.leedscityregion.gov.uk

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Notes to editors:
1. The Leeds City Region (LCR) Partnership brings together a group of 11 local authorities (Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield and York, along with North Yorkshire County Council) with businesses and partners to support economic growth and a better quality of life for our communities.

2. The Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership area is the largest city region economy, financial and manufacturing centre in the country outside London. With a £51billion economy representing 5% of the overall UK economy, over 100,000 businesses and a 3 million population, the city region is at the forefront in both driving the economy of the north and accelerating national economic prosperity.

3. The Leeds City Region’s main objectives are: providing sustainable and affordable housing, better connected transport system, skills and training that reflect the needs of city region employers, creating the environment for businesses to innovate, and supporting low carbon, sustainable communities.

4. For more information on the Leeds City Region Partnership please visit www.leedscityregion.gov.uk.

For media enquiries, please contact;
Claire Macklam, Leeds City Council press office (0113) 395 1578
Email: claire.macklam@leeds.gov.uk

Peace vigil marks 25 years since Chernobyl disaster

Leeds will be remembering those affected by the Chernobyl disaster next week with a peace vigil.

Twenty five years since the nuclear accident, a peace vigil will be held in Mandela Peace Gardens on Tuesday 26 April at 1pm. Members of the public are invited to the gardens to be part of the vigil which will see speakers from Peacelink, Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Chernobyl Children’s Project.

On the 26 April 1986 huge explosions at the Chernobyl nuclear plant sent radiation clouds into the atmosphere that spread throughout Europe. The effects of the disaster are still being felt today.

The event, which is being run by Leeds City Council, Yorkshire CND and the Chernobyl Children’s Project, will also see sunflowers being planted in the Park Square Gardens in remembrance of the victims of all nuclear catastrophes. The sunflower seeds were brought back from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York last year.


Councillor Keith Wakefield, leader of Leeds City Council, said:
“It is important that we take the time to remember all those who continue to be affected by the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl.

“The ongoing situation in Japan has caused many people to recollect their memories of Chernobyl. It therefore seems particularly timely that we take a few minutes to reflect on those memories, and think about those affected by the disaster in Chernobyl.”


For further details contact Yorkshire CND on 01274 730 795 or info@yorkshirecnd.org.uk or visit www.yorkshirecnd.org.uk


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For media enquiries, please contact;
Cat Milburn, Leeds City Council press office (0113) 247 4450
Email: Catherine.milburn@leeds.gov.uk