In February 2006, Leeds City Council’s Department for Learning and Leisure obtained £170,341 to build a pay and display car park on Woodhouse Moor. They obtained the funds by telling Leeds City Council’s Director of Resources there had been consultation with local community groups. In reality, there had been no consultation. (1)
Then in November 2008, when the council’s Highways Department wanted to widen the inbound lane of the A660 where it crosses Woodhouse Moor, in order to obtain £135,000 to fund the planning of the project, they told the Director of Resources that there had been consultation with local community groups. Again, this wasn’t true. If the project had gone ahead, it would have obliterated the avenue of trees and York stone pavement adjacent to the inbound lane of the A660 between Rampart Road and Clarendon road. (2)
Shortly before this in October 2008, in a report that dismissed local people’s request for park wardens to enforce the byelaws, and instead proposed designated barbeque areas, Parks and Countryside told Leeds City Council’s Executive Board that local community groups including Friends of Woodhouse Moor had been present at multi agency meetings. The minutes of these meetings held in May,June and July 2008, show that they gave rise to the proposal for designated barbeque areas. They also show that local community groups had not been present. When challenged about the discrepancy between the report which states that community groups had been present at the meetings, and the minutes, which show that they hadn’t, Parks and Countryside claimed that a meeting attended by Friends of Woodhouse Moor on the 10th May 2007 had also been a multi agency meeting. (3)
References
Design and Cost Report dated 9 January 2006
Design and Cost Report dated 24 November 2008
Report of the Director of Development dated 8 October 2008