Just one week after issuing letters to parents putting 15 of 24 council-run Little Owls nurseries under threat, with 3 due to close as soon as May, the council issued a new letter to parents. They have now delayed the three proposed closures until August and have now setup an ‘engagement’ process with parents. Instead…
Parents were shocked to receive letters as they dropped their children off at council-run Little Owls nurseries across Leeds, letting them know whether they could face imminent closure. Without any prior consultation, the council are proposing closing three of the 24 nurseries as soon as May. And the future of a further 12 nurseries remain…
The Leeds and West Yorkshire branch hosted a public meeting in Huddersfield as a follow up to our campaigning to stop the cuts proposed by Kirklees council and against the war in Gaza. 7 people attended a meeting for the first time after finding out about the meeting via campaigning around Huddersfield. Louie Fulton, Leeds…
On the day that the gym at Kirklees stadium was closing with just one weeks notice, Kirklees Council released the news that at their cabinet meeting on 12th December that two under threat leisure centres would be recommended to stay open. Iain Dalton, Socialist Party Yorkshire secretary This announcement from the council, whose leisure services…
To chants of “Cutback, fightback” and “Kirklees Council, shame on you” campaigners marched from Batley to Dewsbury to highlight the savage cuts being carried through by the council. Iain Dalton, Socialist Party Yorkshire Secretary With a £47m hole in their finances for next year, the last few months have seen more and more announcements of…
250 people from several campaign groups chanted: “Kirklees Council, shame on you, shame on you for turning blue”. We questioned each councillor, asking them not to vote for cuts, and instead save 750 jobs. Many people made deputations to speak to the full council meeting, including two from Unison trade union. But the council refused…
Over the weeks of campaigns the scale of the cuts has seemed to get worse, with arms-length leisure service providers ‘Kirklees Active Leisure’ now guaranteeing to keep only Huddersfield and Spen Valley leisure centres open. This time last year it ran 13 centres across Kirklees! On our first stall we found that many people were…
Iain Dalton, Socialist Party Yorkshire secretary Over 100 people crammed into the Al-Hikmah Centre in Batley, West Yorkshire, on 29 September to discuss how the cuts to local services planned by Kirklees Council could be opposed. In August, the council announced it had overspent by £27 million on last year’s budget and there was a…
Over two months after the last round of action in March, NUJ members were back out on the picket lines in the battle to defend local radio services. Iain Dalton, Leeds Socialist Party In that time BBC management have pressed on with their attacks, merging content, with presenters of day time shows leaving the company…
With shopkeepers coming out to watch and other bystanders filming, the Save Batley Baths demonstration on 4th March was a success in continuing the pressure on Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL) to re-open the Baths. Iain Dalton, Socialist Party Yorkshire secretary The baths has remained closed since December when KAL decided to shut it, Deighton Sports…
