On the 25th February last year, INWAC voted £25,085 to cover the cost of two park wardens on Woodhouse Moor to enforce a designated barbeque area from the 1st April to the 30th September. This was the scheme favoured by the ruling Lib Dems who still control INWAC. With the change in administration in May last year, the designated barbeque proposal was scrapped, but the wardens remained in place to enforce the byelaw banning barbeques. The result was that for the first time in years, everyone could enjoy the park.
We now need to ensure there’s funding for the wardens again this year. So at this Thursday’s meeting, a deputation of residents will be asking INWAC to once again vote the necessary funds. We’ll be reminding councillors that a report published in June last year declared:
The presence of Parks Watch officers is proving successful in preventing barbecue activity at Woodhouse Moor and enforcing the byelaws. If funding is sustained, then it is felt that enforcement activity could be a viable long term solution to address issues associated with barbecue use.
It’s really important that as many people come along as possible, because in June last year, at the Executive Board meeting that scrapped the barbeque proposal, Lib Dem leader Stewart Golton announced that INWAC does not want to provide funds for the wardens again. From what Mr Golton said, it would seem INWAC was only willing to pay for park wardens if a designated barbeque area was part of the package that went with them.
There will in addition be a deputation of residents asking councillors to oppose a scheme to make part of Hyde Park Road one way only. If the scheme goes ahead, it will make it very difficult for residents to access Burley Road and Kirkstall Road. It will also mean residential streets being turned into rat runs, and it will do nothing to deal with the problem of double parking on Hyde Park Road, which has effectively turned half the street into a car park for commuters, reducing it to single lane traffic. You can read more about the scheme and the opposition to it by reading this article.
Please come along on Thursday to support all those fighting to protect our area. The meeting is at St Chad’s Parish Centre, which is located on the green space just before the BP petrol station on the way out of Leeds on the A660.
