It been a lot of hard work but..... the plan has now been submitted
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1. Establish a Neighbourhood Plan Forum. In March 2014 the first our first forum meeting was held at St. Matthew’s Community Centre. The forum has to be made up of approximately 21 people who reflect the diverse interests of Holbeck. here residents, businesses and volunteers meet every three months. Publicity has been a big part of the Plan. It is essential that as many people as possible from the Holbeck area are included in the decisions that are taken. 2. Preparing the Plan We have done lots of public engagement over the years including promoting the plan at the Holbeck Gala, Christmas Market. We conducted 67 questionnaires which helped shape the first initial draft plan. We funded a professional planning aid consultant Peter Baker to help make it into a more policy making speak. 3. Taking the plan through the formal hoops The plan then goes to go an external examiner by the council and a referendum next year in 2016. Eve Tidswell, Ken Tidswell, Graciela McIntyre Lucy Potter and Dennis Kitchen were present in this part of the engagement.  The 'Pop up' HUB van which has been parking in and around the Recreations has proved popular in bringing a range of council services to the heart of the community. Since the pilot launched in September (2015), the van which is funded by the council and Local Inner South Community Committee has seen an increase in numbers from people requesting information on jobs and training opportunities and advice from West Yorkshire fire and rescue service. You can find the van every Wednesday around Recreations (list below) from 10am - 3pm. You will be able to meet representatives from various council services including; Green Doctor, guidance on housing matters, anti social behaviour, drug and alcohol misuse, benefit checks and advice from the Neighbourhood Policing Team. The team are on hand to talk and are keen for more residents to meet the them with any queries they may have. The bus will continue to visit Recreations until 23rd December 2015. Check on the link to find out the report MADE in Leeds produced for the Pop-up HUB.     The Holbeck Neighbourhood Forum took place at 'The Holbeck' (formley The Holbeck Working Men's Club) on a Saturday 7th November 2015. The special general meeting was chaired by Dennis Kitchen and was greeted with some new faces of the residents in Holbeck along with volunteers, local police and ward councilors. After formalities of the meeting with amendments to the constitution being agreed, Dennis informed everyone on the progress of the neighbourhood plan through the next and important stages of the pre-submission initial draft plan. Peter Baker who had been brought to write the document has helped bring all the work the volunteers have being doing over the last three years into a 78 page document. Peter Baker presented maps and talked through amendments and modifications after receiving feedback from the council making the plan more robust in the terms of official policy terms. A breakdown of the objectives and the plan will be given through a public consultation starting at the Holbeck Christmas Market Saturday 5th December. This will still give a chance for the public to have their say and help shape the plan further before submitting through to an external examiner. Ian Pickup updated on Holbeck in Bloom and the Matthew Murray trail, taking us on a journey through industrial heritage linked with walking month next year in March. The information leaflets with colourful photos had been designed by Lynne Gormer with funding from city connect. The local police attended the meeting. The officer informed the public due to the darker nights, they were increasing patrol numbers in the community. This has been helped and funded by local ward councilors Adam Ogilvie and Angela Gabriel. Juliet Bennett from Keepmoat unveiled plans to place a commemorative plinth in the centre of the new buildings in Jenkinson Close where the Holbeck Towers once stood along with a historic information board. The plinth will be situated on a roundabout within the roads of the new houses with two plaques to remember two local historic names associated with the area; Charles Jenkinson and Hugh Gaitskell. These plaques were rescued by Neil Diamond (LCC) before the towers were pulled down in 2009. This plinth will hopefully draw the community together and help new residents learn a bit about the history of their area and connect the past with the present. A request was made for illuminating the plinth and Keepmoat are looking into this. Leeds city council is arranging a 'New Home, New Year, New Chapter' for Holbeck celebrations event at the end of January 2016. Dennis Kitchen informed everyone that Burberry's are planning on moving their factory and workers from Castleford and Keighley to the South Bank area including the Temple Works building in Holbeck. These sites were originally included on the Holbeck Neighbourhood Plan with the land proposed for mixed use by the plan including; businesses, housing and a health centre, which would be easily accessible to the community. Members of the forum agreed this would still be a big positive for the area and that the forum should make contacts with developers in terms of working together. Coincidentally, the Matthew Murray site which has now come back onto the Site Allocations Plan with the reason why it was taken off remaining unknown, will prove a reason for the need for mixed use even more on the old secondary school site.Adam Oglivie said the ward councilors were keen to support the building of new houses in the area. Volunteers will be carrying out public consultations over the next couple of months starting with Holbeck Christmas Market 5 December 2015. Look out for dates and times on this and other local websites.  The next Holbeck Neighbourhood Forum will be held Saturday 7th November 2015
at the Holbeck - Jenkinson Lawn 11.00am - 1.30pm Members of the forum will be presenting the 'Initial Draft Plan' to the public. Join us then to find out more about the content of the plan. We need everyone to get on board and help us approve the plan , so our aims and ambitions for Holbeck can start to happen! There will also be a presentation on the new structure in Holbeck near the new buildings on Jenkinson Lawn. This is to mark the completion of the new houses and to remember the past. Please join us for a free film night at St Matthew's Community Centre. Organised by the South Area Committee, this evening's film is going be 'The Goonies' Film starts at 6pm. Raffle and snacks available.
Slung Low Autumn Update
We’ve got a busy few months coming up at Slung Low’s HUB! Our autumn season continues with four more shows in November- all details can be found here: http://www.slunglow.org/upcoming-hub-events/ - all performances are Pay What You Decide. To book places please email [email protected]. To get everyone into the festive spirit we’re holding our annual Christmas Fayre on Sunday 6th December 12pm-4pm. There will be all sorts of festive stalls, food, drinks and carols galore! We still have a few spots left for stalls so please email [email protected] if you would like to join in the fun! Slung Low’s children’s shows “59 Minutes to Save Christmas” and “Emergency Story Penguin” will be running at Sheffield’s Crucible and Studio during December- visit http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/event/59-minutes-to-save-christmas-15/ if you can make it over to see them! Then, in the New Year we will be bringing “15 Minutes Live” back to the Holbeck Working Men’s Club in April. 15 Minutes Live are short plays performed in front of an audience with on-stage sound effects and live music. These snapshots of our city are part love story, part musical, part goon show. We will commission 5 writers to write the plays- but we want to know what you would like the plays to be about- What interests you? What’s important to the people of Holbeck? What would you like to see a play about? If you have any ideas please send them through to [email protected]. Info about our past 15 Minute Live shows can be found here: http://www.slunglow.org/15-minutes-live/ Our HUB Choir has also been going from strength to strength and the next term is due to kick off on January 26th for another 6 weeks- if you fancy joining please follow this link and get signed up ready for the new year! http://www.slunglow.org/sign-hub-choir/ For any more information about upcoming events and projects please visit: http://www.slunglow.org We look forward to seeing you down at the HUB soon! Slung Low’s home is the Holbeck Underground Ballroom (The HUB). Five railway arches in Holbeck South Leeds. The HUB is a rehearsal space which we make available to those making performance in the region who have need of it. The HUB is also a place where we can invite exciting new work from other companies and present them to an audience; a makeshift performance space.
Saturday 4th July Holbeck Gala was welcomed in with Pipes and Majorettes. The parade started from Cleveleys court, marching onto the moor for midday. The Holbeck Neighbourhood Plan's tent was situated in the middle of the gala next to the band stage. The sun shone and lots of people came from near and far to visit the gala and spent some time chatting with us. One lady called Tahira had traveled from Wakefield but had been born and raised in Holbeck. She was visiting because she always looks out for the gala each year and brought some friends. I got talking to her and she started to tell me about her time in Holbeck. Tahira started working on a YTS scheme at a local tailors in Holbeck called George Hurley's. Her boss Mrs Hurley was a lovely lady to work for and helped the girls with an extra bonus of £10 per week. They made high quality suits for clothing companies such as; Droopy and Browns and Laura Ashley. This was in the 1980's when the economy was good in Holbeck and there was lots of local trade businesses. She made good friends with people she worked with and said they had a good social life, meeting up for drinks once a month in town. She then went onto work at Mitchell Walkers tailoring men's suits for one year. Then moving on to Barnitts Glass factory on Brown Lane. Tahira lived in the old back to backs near sweet street (which have since been demolished). Tahira says she always got on well with her neighbours whatever background they were. She told me people have got to have pride in their own area, it's down to them to keep it nice. Tahira says she's loves coming back to Holbeck but it is not the same as it once was. She remembers a time when there were more employment opportunities, and it's that which makes people feel better about themselves and take pride in their community. Tahira says she's the type of person who goes out of her way to help people. When she sees people struggling she always lends a hand! thanks for visiting the tent on Saturday and sharing your past of Holbeck with us Tahira, Please keep in touch so we can update you with news of the Holbeck Neighbourhood Plan.  The Holbeck (The formerly named Holbeck Working Men's Club) hosted the Holbeck Neighbourhood Forum (on April 25th 2015). Inside the club the lounge was packed with a number of residents, local ward Councillors; Adam Ogilvie, Angela Gabriel and our elected MP Hilary Benn. Alongside these were various representatives from the council, businesses and charities working with the forum.
We were treated to an exciting presentation from the Fishwick family who live in the new Lilac straw insulated houses! in Bramley, a sustainable living project which has taken five years to build. We were took on a power point tour by the children, from conception through to actually living in the housing project. The forum decided that it would be a good idea to have something like this to help illustrate ideas about self builds on the old Matthew Murray Site in Holbeck. Then it was time to break up into groups and discuss the objectives of the draft plan. We evaluated responses around; Thriving local centre Range of community facilities Housing Employment Green environment Heritage and local character Well-connected neighbourhood Afterward, the representative from each group gave a brief summary and clarified that everyone was in agreement with the objectives. This helped add more substance to the areas which will help write the draft plan due to be given to the public for consultation in the Autumn. The next forum will be held on Saturday 18th July 2015 at St. Matthew's Community Centre Holbeck. |
