WORK is to start next month on Otley s flood alleviation scheme. Construction was due to begin shortly after the proposals were approved in March last year but the scheme had been set back by lockdown. Leeds City Council said last year it was hoping to begin engineering work in October 2020 but then the start date was delayed again until 2021. Now councillors have been told construction will begin on Monday, March 8. The project, which is a major part of Otley s £3.3 million flood defence scheme, involves a flood defence embankment running parallel with Billams Hill and the management of vegetation on the islands downstream at Otley Weir. The measures will cut the risk of flooding to properties on Farnley Lane and Bridge Avenue.
WORK is to start next month on Otley s flood alleviation scheme. Construction was due to begin shortly after the proposals were approved in March last year but the scheme had been set back by lockdown. Leeds City Council said last year it was hoping to begin engineering work in October 2020 but then the start date was delayed again until 2021. Now councillors have been told construction will begin on Monday, March 8. The project, which is a major part of Otley s £3.3 million flood defence scheme, involves a flood defence embankment running parallel with Billams Hill and the management of vegetation on the islands downstream at Otley Weir. The measures will cut the risk of flooding to properties on Farnley Lane and Bridge Avenue.
OTLEY s ward councillors are calling for all the responses to the East of Otley consultation be made public. Cllr Sandy Lay said: Following concerns raised by residents we have contacted the Director of Planning in Leeds to ask that the details of residents responses be made public.There are concerns that many of the detailed comments will be lost and that those areas of concern which are not specifically mentioned in the questionnaire will be ignored. Cllr Ryk Downes added: We appreciate that because of decisions made by Leeds in the past we are faced with development. But the depth of local feeling the consultation has aroused and the feeling that decisions are being taken without reference to the Neighbourhood Plan means that all future discussions should be in the open.
Councillors Colin Campbell, Ryk Downes and Sandy Lay are urging residents to speak out against proposed cuts PEOPLE in Otley and Yeadon are being urged to speak out against planned cuts to services. Leeds City Council is proposing to cut opening hours at libraries and community hubs in the two towns and will also reduce floral planting. The suggested cuts are being put forward as part of the council s 2021/22 budget savings proposals as it faces a shortfall of £119 million. The council has launched a public consultation on its proposals this week and is asking councillors and local people to make their views known and to give feedback on when they would like to use the services.
A POLITICIAN from Otley will take up a place in the House of Lords next year. Councillor Judith Blake CBE, the Leader of Leeds City Council, has been chosen to be a Labour Party Peer in the upper chamber. Cllr Blake was named among the new peers that were announced by the Government on Tuesday, December 22. The former Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, will also take up a position in the Lords in 2021. Responding to the announcement, she said: “I am honoured to be selected to join the House of Lords at this hugely important time. “It has been a great privilege to serve as Leader of my home city of Leeds for the last five and a half years.