Work so far on the Old York Road Library

You will have seen in the local paper recently, and in the latest Lib Dem leaflet, that both Labour and Lib Dems are claiming the credit for getting a temporary roof fitted to this landmark Grade II Listed Building to prevent further damage and decay to the fabric of this building.



Well here are some pictures on the quality of the work which has been done so far which we do not believe either of our local politicians will be willing to claim the credit for, since it is clearly very shoddy and substandard, paying only the barest lip-service to the intentions of both the Council officers and local residents to save this building in spite of its present owner.

    

Schedule 1 attached to urgent works notice

1. Remove all existing slate from the roof and place inside the building.
2. Provide reinforcement to damaged roof structures to allow safe working and to support temporary roof described below.
3. Line valleys with lapped heavy gauge Visqueen DPC or single-ply rubber membrane, held down with continuous strap laths laid along the length of the valleys.  The visqueen or alternative should an upstand of a minimum of 300mm and should dressed into the gullies to ensure discharge of rainwater into down pipes.     
4. Cover all roofs in heavy gauge Visqueen DPC membrane, all membrane to be lathed at 300mm centres. Visqueen will be laid so that there is a continuous run from the sarking membrane down into the valleys.
5. Tower to be covered with Visqueen
6. Clear down pipes and gullies and refix missing sections of down pipe in UPVC sufficient to ensure that rainwater discharges to the gullies.  
7. Fix steel door inside existing sheeting to rear door.

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Refers to point 4


The plastic sheeting in the middle roof is lifting, revealing the wooden roof slats - how is this supposed to make the roof watertight?






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Refers to point 4

Here you can clearly see that the plastic sheeting has completely pulled away from the staircase - and this before the jobs is even finished.



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Refers to point 6

Here you can quite clearly see that no drain collection box has been fitted to the down drainpipe leaving any rainfall actually collected from the roof  to run down the walls, internally or externally.  It is also clear that the holes punched in the fabric of the building by the scaffolders have simply been left to open further damaging the  building

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Copyright C O V E N

You can see the many holes punched in the windows to make room for the scaffolding poles have been left completely open, no attempt has been made to board them up and pigeons are roosting in the the building.  Clearly no attempt whatsoever has been made to make this building even minimally watertight



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Windows have been either broken or removed to accommodate scaffolding poles, since they have not been either replaced or boarded where this has happened we have not confidence that this will be the case here.



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Trees and shrubs cut down close to the building to give the scaffolders access have been piled up and left, along with an accumulation of other rubbish posing a fire hazard to the building.

Please click here to see the written answers to our questions raised by COVEN at the Inner East Area Committee Meeting on the Old Library building, its sale and maintenance.  It lists what should have been done in Schedule 1, it is apparent that on point 4 and 6 this clearly has not happened.  It also states that damage caused by the need to erect scaffolding will be repaired but it is clear that it has not been and the scaffolding has now been removed so it is not going to be done either.

It also raises questions about how this building, while in council therefore residents ownership, was allowed to deteriorate to such a state that it sold for so very little before being allowed to deteriorate to its present pitiable condition.

Here is the Agenda for the next meeting of the Richmond Hill Forum

RICHMOND HILL FORUM
Inner East Area Committee


Forum Date & Time: Tuesday 8th March 2011, 6pm

Venue: Victoria Primary School

AGENDA

1. Introductions and Apologies

2. Minutes of Last Meeting and Matters Arising

3. PACT – Neighbourhood Policing Team

4. Aire Valley Area Action Plan Consultation

5. NHS Leeds – Lung Cancer Campaign

6. Waste Treatment Facility update

7. Area Issues
• Selective Licensing
• East North East Homes

8. Area Committee Report

9. Any Other Business

10. Date and Time of Next Meeting

There are some very important items on this agenda relating to our area and if you want to have your say, or just listen to what is being said come long to Victoria Primary School, TUESDAY 8 March 2011 and be part of things.

Minutes of the last meeting

Bus Services withdrawn from Cross Green and East End Park

As you can see this area is once again to lose what little it has.

People do not use these bus services because they are not reliable enough, you can only be late for work or an appointment so many times before it begins to sound hollow - so anyone who can has already made other arrangements, for those still using these services its because they have no other choice.

Changes to bus services 8, 62, 63 in East Leeds from 1 May 2011

Metro and Centrebus plan to change these services in May 2011 in a way which is aimed at addressing concerns raised by passengers and local members and make more efficient use of resources.

The bus services affected currently operate as follows :

• 8 Seacroft – Horsforth the ”Ring Road” service
• 62 Leeds – Saxton Gardens – Lavender Walk – Cross Green Industrial Estate
• 63 St James’ Hospital – Leeds – Cross Green Lane – Ivy Street – Rookwood Road – Halton Moor – Temple Gate – Hollyshaw Lane – Crossgates – Scholes - Seacroft

At present service 63 is very poorly used, it is part funded by Metro but mostly operates on a commercial basis. The service does not offer value for money and would ordinarily be withdrawn. However efforts have been made to retain the stronger parts of the route.

The changes therefore involve the withdrawal of services from some roads where usage is low or where alternative services are within walking distance – these are detailed overleaf.

The proposed changes will offer the following benefits :

• provide new direct links to Cross Green Industrial Estate from west Leeds
• give Torre Road a direct service to/from Leeds city centre
• reintroduce a service via Kingswear Estate to/from Crossgates and Leeds.
• Restore links on the Ring Road service 8 beyond Horsforth to Pudsey via Farsley.

Services will be revised to operate as follows :

8 Seacroft – Horsforth

All journeys will be extended beyond Horsforth to Pudsey Bus Station via Broadway, Horsforth New Road, Bagley Lane, Farsley Town Street, Old Road, Bradford Road, Richardshaw Lane, Lidgett Hill and Church Street. Frequency remains hourly Mon-Sat.

60 Leeds – Torre Road – Temple Gate – Crossgates – Kingswear Crescent

This new service will operate via Torre Road in both directions with some journeys being extended beyond Crossgates to Kingswear Crescent and Austhorpe Lane, reinstating links lost during 2010. The service is a partial replacement for service 63. The service will operate during the off peak on Mon-Fri between 1000 and 1430.

62 Greengates – Pudsey – Old Farnley – Armley – Leeds – Saxton Gardens – Lavender Walk -Cross Green Industrial Estate

62A Pudsey – Old Farnley – Armley – Leeds – Saxton Gardens – Lavender Walk – Cross Green Industrial Estate

Each service will operate hourly during Mon-Sat daytime, offering a half-hourly frequency between Cross Green, Leeds City Centre, Armley, Leysholme and Pudsey. An hourly service will continue to operate in the evenings and on Sunday between Leeds and Cross Green.

63 Crossgates – Scholes - Seacroft

The Mon-Sat daytime service will be revised to operate hourly between Crossgates and Seacroft via Scholes. Evening and Sunday services 63A,63B between Leeds and Seacroft will continue unchanged.

Summary of effects by ward

BURMANTOFTS & RICHMOND HILL

Loss of service on Cross Green Lane, East Park Parade, Ivy Street, Ivy Avenue, Rookwood Avenue, Rookwood Road. Loss of current hourly direct links to/from St James Hospital (via City Centre) from Osmondthorpe Lane area, Halton Moor, Temple Gate, Cross Gates and Scholes. Improved service on Torre Road – bus services will operate in both directions Monday to Friday

TEMPLE NEWSAM

Link to Cross Gates retained however direct links to St James’ Hospital, Cross Green and Halton Moor withdrawn

CROSSGATES & WHINMOOR

Reinstatement of Mon-Fri off-peak service between Leeds, Crossgates and Kingswear Crescent

KILLINGBECK & SEACROFT

Loss of daytime through service to New Temple Gate, Halton Moor and Cross Green from Seacroft.

HAREWOOD

Loss of daytime through service between Scholes and New Temple Gate, Halton Moor, Cross Green and St James’ Hospital.

Please contact your councillors and let them know that this is not acceptable. Once again East Leeds is left without adequate transport links to the city centre, hospitals or other area of the city. To say that everyone can walk to another bus stop is simply not true, if you are unwell, elderly or have young children it will be difficult to walk to and from a suitable bus stop. The people of this area deserve better and it is time now stand up and say enough!

More comments from the councillors on the possible closure of Richmond Hill Library

Cllr Richard Brett and Cllr Ralph Pryke had supplied this reply in response to our request for their position on this very important local matter.

“Libraries are very important to many people in our community. All Saints C/E Primary school pupils use Richmond Hill Library after school and they have sent me a petition which I have passed on to councillor Adam Ogilvie who is the Labour Councillor responsible for the final decision on which Libraries stay open. It will be very sad if we can’t keep Richmond Hill Library open.

It would be used more if it was situated in a better place. There are no homes near it in its current position. Cllr Pryke and I have therefore asked senior Library staff to explore moving Library computers to Richmond Hill community Centre where a new extension would allow them to be kept secure. We think that RHEA and the youth service would use them as well as school children after school hours. Library staff have promised to look at this suggestion carefully.”

Cllr Richard Brett Lib Dem

We have the first reply from one of our councillors on the closure of the library in Richmond Hill

"Dear Sue the issue you raise can be resolved if sombody listens to me and that is to have the new library built on the richmond hill primary school attatched to the schools library with safeguards built in when the community use it.


Cllr Ron Grahame
Burmantofts & Richmond Hill Ward
Labour Group"

We thank Cllr Grahame for his comments and look forward to hearing from our other two councillors soon. We will post their comments on the Blog as soon as they arrive.

The old York Road Library

Despite the wildly exaggerated claims in the latest Lib Dem leaflet it was in fact the COVEN campaign which kick started the drive to save the Old York Road Library and got the landlord to reluctantly undertake the necessary work to protect the fabric of this Grade II listed building with an energetic and vociferous campaign led entirely by and driven by local residents.

Attempts to get answers about the Old York Road Library and its future through the Richmond Hill Forum (chaired by the Lib Dems) since 2008 had failed miserably and emails from that time to Cllr Hollingsworth on this subject show that the whole matter was hopelessly stalled and going nowhere at that point so COVEN, a local pressure group made up of concerned residents, themselves went on the offensive; we wrote letters and sent emails to the relevant people; interested the Victorian Society; English Heritage; The Civic Trust; the Inner East Area Committee and our local MP in the case. We lobbied hard through this Blog, You Tube, local press, Guardian Leeds and East Leeds FM and even met with the head of Rushbond, a property developer with an interest in the area, trying to bring about a satisfactory solution and stop the building from rotting away.

Eventually the sustained pressure paid off and a meeting was arranged with Cllr Graham Hyde (Lab), Cllr Richard Brett (Lib Dem), Phil Ward, Team Leader Conservation at the Sustainable Development Unit and council officer Richard Fenton at which COVEN put forward such a convincing case for saving the building from further damage that Cllrs Hyde and Brett agreed to take the case to Cllr Richard Lewis (Lab) who managed to secure the necessary funding to undertake the work needed if the landlord refused to do it, and this was the key to getting the work done!

If any one person can justifiably claim the credit for this success it would be Sam Hirst of COVEN who has campaigned tirelessly for several years to preserve this building and chronicled its sad decline in pictures and video but, in truth, I think that Sam would be the first to say that saving the Old York Road Library was a community effort, no one person and certainly no one party can claim the credit.

What this area really needs now is more community engagement and less party political points scoring. We know there is an election coming but it would be a solid achievement for the residents of Richmond Hill if, just for once, the councillors put the residents' best interests ahead of party political advantage. We need our councillors to work together for the good of our area and to leave the rest of the party political nonsense behind. Perhaps celebrate the fact that a bunch of committed local activists, with help from councillors of all parties and council officials, local and national organisations, our local MP, and with the help of local media all worked together to save one of the few remaining iconic buildings left in Richmond Hill, pat each other on the back if necessary but learn the lesson that if this area is going to succeed the politicians are going to have to put their constituents needs ahead of their party's - so no claiming credit for this achievement from one political party - this was a perfect example of a community led joint effort delivering the right outcome which may not go down well at party headquarters but is going down well where it really matters - here with the residents!

Councillor speak on closure of Richmond Hill Library

Cllr Richard Brett and Cllr Ralph Pryke had supplied this reply in response to our request for their position on this very important matter locally.

“Libraries are very important to many people in our community. All Saints C/E Primary school pupils use Richmond Hill Library after school and they have sent me a petition which I have passed on to councillor Adam Ogilvie who is the Labour Councillor responsible for the final decision on which Libraries stay open. It will be very sad if we can’t keep Richmond Hill Library open.

It would be used more if it was situated in a better place. There are no homes near it in its current position. Cllr Pryke and I have therefore asked senior Library staff to explore moving Library computers to Richmond Hill community Centre where a new extension would allow them to be kept secure. We think that RHEA and the youth service would use them as well as school children after school hours. Library staff have promised to look at this suggestion carefully.”

We have the first reply from one of our councillors on the closure of the library in Richmond Hill

"Dear Sue the issue you raise can be resolved if sombody listens to me and that is to have the new library built on the richmond hill primary school attatched to the schools library with safeguards built in when the community use it.


Cllr Ron Grahame
Burmantofts & Richmond Hill Ward
Labour Group"

We thank Cllr Grahame for his comments and look forward to hearing from our other two councillors soon. We will post their comments on the Blog as soon as they arrive.

The Closure of Richmond Hill Library

As part of our attempts to encourage local democracy and open debate we have asked our three councillors for the Richmond Hill Ward, Cllr Richard Brett, Cllr Ron Grahame and Cllr Ralph Pryke for their personal views on the Richmond Hill library and its future. We will publish their replies here as soon as they arrive.

The article in the Guardian/Leeds today makes interesting reading and shows that visits to our library have actually gone up from 5 years ago, which when you consider its location, how little it is open and at what inconvenient times, is a remarkable testament to the need for a functioning and available library in our area.

We would also welcome your comments on this subject too. How important do you think a library is to our community? How do you feel about the lack of facilities in this area generally?