Lucinda.Yeadon@kirkstallward.org.uk
Lucinda lives in Vesper Place near Kirkstall Abbey and works for the charity Mencap. She is an active campaigner in the local community, a governor at Hawksworth Wood Primary School, and a member of Kirkstall Valley Community Association and the Kirkstall Vision Group. She was nominated by Labour Councillor Elizabeth Minkin, who retires on 1st May after serving Kirkstall Ward for twenty years.
I will have regular and accessible surgeries.
I will always protect local services that provide support for the most vulnerable in society.
I will work to ensure that there are activities for young people and protect our parks and playing fields.
I will represent the people of Kirkstall honestly, transparently and with complete integrity.
I will work with the community groups and associations in Kirkstall to represent you and improve our community.
Lucinda says: "It is vital that the Labour regain control of Leeds and halt the damage that the coalition of Liberal Democrats and Conservatives is doing to this great city. Through my employment I have worked closely with several local authorities. My work regularly demonstrates to me the importance of the support which is provided by the local authority to vulnerable people. The cuts that we are witnessing in adult services are extremely concerning and I am prepared to defend this vital support for the people of Kirkstall. I am able to see the Council from the perspective of the people it supports and the people that it employs."
"As a young woman I understand the barriers that face young people, bringing a different viewpoint to local politics. Increased social housing must be a priority, as should a strong educational system, tackling anti-social behaviour and social services that protect those who are vulnerable while supporting people to make the most of their potential and lead happy and full-filling lives."
"We must also recognise the damage that has been done to our environment and seek realistic solutions to the concerning situation that we and our future generations are facing. I believe in putting people first, giving a voice to the disadvantaged and opportunity for all."
| contact Lucinda on 0113 217 7330 or Lucinda.Yeadon@kirkstallward.org.uk | |
| candidate | party | votes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucinda Joy Yeadon | Labour | 1981 | |
| Christine Ruth Coleman | Lib Dem | 1844 | |
| Philip Richard Smith | Conservative | 495 | |
| Tony Thackwray | BNP | 376 | |
| Anne-Marie Hill | Green | 337 | |
| Total votes cast | (30.12% turnout) | 5047 | |
Once again, the results across Leeds differed from the national trend. The Lib Dems won a seat from the Conservatives in Weetwood, but otherwise no seats changed hands. This means that the political make up of the entire council is as follows:
| political party | votes | seats | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | 28.67% | 43 | |
| Liberal Democratic Party | 18.89% | 24 | |
| Conservative Party | 31.41% | 22 | |
| British National Party | 11.35% | 1 | |
| Green Party | 3.72% | 3 | |
| Morley Borough Independents | 3.19% | 5 | |
| minor parties | 2.78% | 0 |
Only one third of the councillors are elected each year, so the number of seats for each party includes the results of earlier elections.
Labour is the largest political group on the council, but no party has overall control. The Tories and Lib Dems combined have 3 seats more than Labour, but they are normally supported by the 5 Morley Borough Independents, giving them a working majority.
| candidate | party | votes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Anthony Illingworth | Labour | 2236 | |
| Christine Ruth Coleman | Lib Dem | 1743 | |
| Sandra Marie Cockayne | BNP | 380 | |
| Martin Leslie Reed | Green | 378 | |
| Jeremy Mark Kapp | Conservative | 374 | |
| Total votes cast | (32% turnout) | 5111 | including 1493 postal votes |
Results across Leeds differed from the national trend. Labour won a council seat from the Lib Dems in Harehills, and two seats from the Conservatives in Garforth and Temple Newsam. The Morley Borough Independents defeated an Independent councillor in Morley North. This means that the political make up of the entire council is as follows:
| political party | votes | seats | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | 32.5% | 43 | |
| Conservative Party | 26.8% | 22 | |
| Liberal Democratic Party | 19.7% | 24 | |
| British National Party | 11.2% | 1 | |
| Green Party | 3.9% | 3 | |
| Morley Borough Independents | 2.7% | 5 | |
| minor parties | 3.2% | 0 |
Only one third of the councillors are elected each year, so the number of seats for each party includes the results of earlier elections.
Labour is the largest political group on the council, but no party has overall control. The Tories and Lib Dems combined have 3 seats more than Labour, but they are normally supported by the 5 Morley Borough Independents, giving them a working majority. Three Green Party members have split from the ruling coalition over the waste incinerator scheme.
Leeds City Council has 33 wards and 99 councillors, with 3 councillors per ward. The councillors take turns to stand for election. Each year one third of the councillors retire and face re-election, and once elected they serve for four years. Once every four years there is a gap year with no elections. This was formerly used for the County Council elections, until the County Councils were abolished by Margaret Thatcher's government in 1985.
The various political parties all use slightly different systems, but the basic idea is similar. In Leeds, various Labour Party branches and affiliated organisations put forward the names of people they already consider suitable to stand as local election candidates, anywhere in Leeds. These individuals are interviewed by senior party officers to assess their overall suitability for public office and their knowledge of Labour Party rules, policies and procedures. Most of them are successful, and their names are added to a panel of potential candidates. When individual ward parties come to select their future candidate (usually in the autumn) they must chose somebody from the panel, but not necessarily from their own ward. There are additional rules which are designed to increase the proportion of female candidates, but these do not apply to existing councillors seeking re-election.
All political parties normally choose their candidates and election agents long before the official start of the election campaign. When the election is called, a proposer, seconder and ten "assentors" sign the candidate's nomination papers and deliver them to the returning officer. These papers are checked for authenticity, and the candidate receives a letter stating that their nomination has been accepted.
Spending by political parties is controlled by law during the period between the candidate's successful nomination and election day. The sums permitted are quite small in relation to the size of the electorate. In Kirkstall, with about 16,000 electors the limit is about £1400 per candidate, or about 8p per elector. This would not even buy sufficient postage stamps. We strongly support the limits on election expenses, but they do explain why election materials often seem cheaply produced, and why they are almost all delivered by volunteer helpers and supporters working in their own time.
After each election the returning officer produces a "marked register" showing who has voted. It does not say which way they voted, but it does record the fact that they cast their vote. Political parties often use this list to target their publicity materials towards these people, who are more likely to vote in the next election. None of the parties want to be exclusive, but such targeting is often the only way to keep inside the expenses limit.
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The Lib Dem candidate in Kirkstall for the last three years was also serving as a local councillor in Wiltshire from 1991 to 2007 where she represented Chippenham Hill Rise ward in the Cotswolds about 200 miles from Leeds. Kirkstall Lib Dem leaflets refer to a "local Lib Dem campaigner" - does Wiltshire sound "local" to you? The candidate’s photo on her Kirkstall leaflets was identical to a North Wilts press release but the backdrop had been changed. Leeds Lib Dems gave an address in Airebrough, but during 2007 Wiltshire Lib Dems gave a Chippenham address.
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The Lib Dem candidate was the Leader of North Wiltshire council for seven years, and a member of their Executive Board, until removed by the Lib Dem group. Despite being among the richest and most privileged parts of England, they did not perform very well. Between 2001 - 2006 there were five critical reports from the Audit Commission about North Wiltshire District Council. Several departments were rated among the worst in the entire country. North Wiltshire was rated overall as a one star council.
When Leeds City Council was similarly assessed, mainly on Labour’s record, we got four stars. After the coalition of Lib Dem, Tories and Greens took over, Leeds temporarily dropped back to three stars, although subsequently it recovered its position. We all know that Leeds is far from perfect, so North Wiltshire must have been dire.
The Audit Commission said that North Wiltshire was among the slowest councils in the country, had no strategy for customer focus, exaggerated their recycling rates, did not provide adequately for disabled people, lacked long term vision and were among the worst for litter.
Extensive foreign travel by our "local" Lib Dem campaigner is described in numerous local government documents and has often been reported in the North Wiltshire press:
Independent North Wilts Councillor Philip Allnatt asked the Leader in full council: “What plans does the Leader have to visit Chippenham?”
Our Lib Dem candidate represented North Wiltshire on National and European organisations. The first link points to a web archive saved on 4 May 2007, because the Lib Dem website was updated after the elections. Scroll right down to the bottom of the page. The dated screen shot below comes from the European Committee of the Regions website. These contents also changed as a result of the elections.
She was replaced as Leader in May 2005, having apparently lost the confidence of the Lib Dem group. North Wiltshire Lib Dem Councillor Ross Henning said "people started to complain that she was away a lot". She collected her councillor’s allowances from North Wiltshire, but who paid for all these overseas trips?
We have asked Ruth about her overseas trips and her European expenses and allowances, but she will not answer our questions.
| May 2003 | re-elected to represent Chippenham Hill Rise ward in North Wiltshire |
| June 2004 | stood as Euro MP for South West England but was not successful |
| May 2005 | stood against Hilary Benn in Leeds Central for the General Election, and lost badly |
| May 2006 | stood against Bernard Atha in Kirkstall and lost again |
| May 2007 | stood against John Illingworth in Kirkstall and lost again |
| May 2008 | stood against Lucinda Yeadon in Kirkstall and lost again |
Until 3 May 2007 she was still supposedly representing the long suffering electors in Chippenham, North Wiltshire.
The Lib Dems have announced that Ruth Coleman will be their Parliamentary candidate to run against Labour's Rachel Reeves at the next General Election in West Leeds.
Download the North Wiltshire Audit Report for 2004-5 when Ruth Coleman lead the District Council. This report was published in March 2006.
The Audit Commission are independent and impartial. They highlighted many problems in 2004-5 but the latest figures for North Wiltshire show the council is improving, after their new Leader took over in 2005.
Download the Leeds Audit Report for 2004-5 which was largely based on Labour's record. This report was published in March 2006.
Click the link to compare the latest figures for Leeds City Council with North Wiltshire District Council.
Kirkstall residents are being deluged with wrong or misleading information from the Lib Dem publicity machine:
Lib Dems claimed that our Post Offices faced closure by the Labour Government. Not true – they are mostly trading well, except for the Kirkstall District Centre where the owner retired, despairing of the developers' lack of progress. It was nothing whatsoever to do with the Labour Government. Some people signed their pointless petition – which doubled as a Lib Dem mailing list.
Lib Dems claimed to cut crime. Not true – Labour introduced Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and the Lib Dems voted against. The highest crime areas are all in nearby wards with Lib Dem councillors. What is more, the priority crime rate in Kirkstall continues to fall steadily, but in the Lib Dem areas results have not been so good.
Lib Dems invented a scare story that Labour planned a bin tax on refuse collections. Not true – this has NEVER been Labour policy in Leeds. We believe it would encourage fly-tipping and make matters worse.
The bin-tax is Lib Dem policy, not Labour. Elsewhere in the country Lib Dems are criticising the Labour government for NOT intoducing a bin tax!
Lib Dems claimed the shambles over green bin collections was Labour’s fault. Not true – the Lib Dem / Tory coalition control the Council, but try to blame others for their failures.
The Kirkstall councillors have complaints from all over Kirkstall that the Lib Dem / Tory Council either cannot supply green recycling bins, or if it does supply them they are not being emptied, or (worst of all) residents have laboriously separated their waste for recycling, only to see it all tipped regardless into the black bin vehicle, destined for landfill. We have complained repeatedly about these problems, but the coalition seems unable to get its act together.
Lib Dems claimed credit for partially resurfacing footways on Abbey Road. Not true – this job has been in the work programme for around four years, but was delayed by the complex legal negotiations about the Kirkstall Forge development.
Lib Dems tried to take credit for the pedestrian crossing on Butcher Hill. Not true – this work was promoted by local residents’ groups.
Lib Dems also claimed that they provided the traffic calming humps in Kirkstall. Not true – these were agreed several years ago, and some were even provided by the Cardigan Fields developer.
Lib Dems claimed to be improving housing across the city. Not true - £76 million came from the Labour Government. The coalition are making a mess, for example by fitting 286 undersized uPVC doors on the Moor Grange estate, and letting some contractors overcharge the council and get away with shoddy work.
Lib Dem scare stories that Leeds Children’s Hospital had been "axed" by the Labour Government were exposed as total fabrication at a Health Scrutiny meeting in Leeds Civic Hall. Two spokeswomen for Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust said they were not yet ready to apply for the money. Roughly £230 million is still on offer from the Labour Government. There have not been any “cuts”.
Answering questions from Kirkstall Labour Councillor John Illingworth, a children’s doctor and a senior nurse explained that the Hospital Trust had found some serious snags with their existing plans for a Children’s Hospital.
Some sick children need a wide range of medical and surgical skills. This means that different specialists must be close at hand. Unfortunately, Leeds departments are split between St James’ University Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary. In order to create an effective Children’s Hospital, they need to move their existing heart unit from the LGI to St James’.
Expensive new medical facilities could be wasted and the cost of the move could escalate. For this reason, Leeds Hospital Trust, NOT the Labour government, were reviewing their original plan.
People need not rely on their Labour Councillors to tell them the truth about this, because anybody can download the authentic story from the Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust website. Even the somewhat slanted accounts in the local newspapers have stopped short from blaming government "cuts". Kirkstall Lib Dems have invented this gigantic whopper all on their own.
There is a link on the Teaching Hospitals Trust Home Page to their board reports. This link leads to their Board Meetings Website, where you will need to click "Agendas and Minutes" and select the 2007 reports. Click here to download the minutes from the Board Meeting on 29 March 2007. It is minute 2677 - Making Leeds Better. Don't rely on our word - read the original for yourself.
Can you trust Kirkstall Lib Dems to tell you the truth about anything?
Although Labour is the largest single party with 43 seats, Leeds is governed by a coalition of Lib Dem and Tory councillors, who are often supported by the Morley Borough Independents. Outdated Conservative ideas dominate this coalition. They are cutting back on home care and asset-stripping our city. The Green Party used to be members of this coalition, but quit in 2007 over the planned waste incinerator.
In the last four years Lib Dems never once voted against the Tories.
Cutbacks are everywhere: poor grounds maintenance at Abbey House Museum and at Burley Park, street gullies choked with rubbish, roads full of craters like the surface of the moon…
The coalition encountered major difficulties with the grass cutting contract, but more recently their biggest problem has been refuse collections. Many parts of Kirkstall have no green recycling bins, and our recycling rates are poor. Even where recycling bins are provided, residents often caught the council emptying both the green and the black bins into the same refuse truck!
The coalition needlessly closed Beckett Park Primary School, despite the Lib Dem promises to keep it open.
The harshest cuts have been in social services. The number of older people is increasing year on year, but the elderly care budget has not increased in proportion.
Conservatives try to prevent people discovering what they have done. When Labour was in power Leeds won awards for open, transparent government. Now the Tories are in control and the shutters have closed.
First and foremost, Labour listens to the public. No party can govern effectively without your help.
Try us on 07946 301132 or email your councillors for a rapid response.
Is there a big planning application, or a new proposal in Kirkstall? We make sure that local people know in good time. We pay attention to what they say. We share difficult decisions with the public, giving people access to the facts.
We do not behave like Lib Dems and Tories, who decided to build a car park on Woodhouse Moor without consulting local residents, and tried to deny council tenants in Little London a vote on the future of their own homes.
Labour is working for a health unit in the Kirkstall District Centre and a Children’s Hospital in Leeds.
We will increase supplies of low-cost housing to buy or rent, and we will get a grip on landlords by licensing all houses in multiple occupation. Labour will improve refuse collection and recycling, and will not build a municipal waste incinerator in Leeds.
We take more care. Labour would not waste £15 million on needless consultants, or allow massive cost over-runs on major contracts, as the present coalition have done.
The Labour Party gives a voice to ordinary people, and seeks to narrow the gap between rich and poor. We oppose the privatisation of public services and the sale of public assets. We direct resources to those in need. The burden must fall mainly on very rich people who are best able to pay.
