721 Million Reasons Why Leeds Labour has One Foot in the Grave (Leeds Liberal Democrats)

Leeds Liberal Democrats <info@leedslibdems.org.uk>

721 Million Reasons Why Leeds Labour has One Foot in the Grave

October 21, 2005 12:00 AM

Leader of the Council Cllr Mark Harris (Lib Dem, Moortown) calls upon Cllr Wakefield, the Victor Meldrew of Leeds Labour Group, to stop moaning and take a look at the current administration's record of delivering massive investment to improve services for the people of Leeds.

Cllr Harris said "It's about time that the Labour Group quit their constant sniping about road signs and letterheads and had a look at the bigger picture. Since March this year the current Lib Dem-led administration has

· Signed a £97 million contract that will provide five secondary schools and one primary school including a children's centre for over 5,700 children and young people in Leeds.

· Signed a £113 million contract to provide good quality housing in Swarcliffe for the tenants of approximately 1600 Council dwellings, coupled with a huge amount of work to regenerate the area.

· Approved the business case for a £106 million programme to replace the Council's Street Lighting stock, with work programmed to start next March.

· Started the procurement programme for the £249 million Building Schools for the Future scheme which will transform the state of many of our Secondary Schools.

· Received approval for a £15 million scheme to provide 3 Joint Service Centres

· Sought approval for a £42 million Independent Living Project to provide independent living accommodation for people with learning disabilities and mental health support needs.

· Reviewed plans for a £69 million social housing project in Little London which will provide much needed good quality housing for 1,200 Council tenants.

· Received approval from the Government to proceed with plans for a £30million scheme to replace many of our Leisure Centres.

That's £721 million worth of investment in the city that we've been progressing in the past 6 months alone, all of which is geared towards improving the services we provide to the people of Leeds."

Note to Editors:

· The Council's Executive Board met today (Friday 21st October) to receive a six-monthly progress report on the PPP (Public-Private Partnerships)/PFI (Private Finance Initiative) programme in Leeds, which highlifghts "significant investment, innovative initiatives and improved service delivery for the people of Leeds".

The views in this Press Release are those of the Liberal Democrat Council Group, and not necessarily those of Leeds City Council, its Officers or of the Liberal Democrat Party.