As reported here yesterday, Leeds City Council has handed Bramley Baths into community ownership and the Friends of Bramley Baths, chaired by former Leeds West MP John Battle, will be taking on the running of the historic Baths as a community enterprise on a 25 year lease. Full story »

Senior councillors at Leeds City Council this afternoon have officially agreed that control of the historic Baths be handed over to the Friends of Bramley Baths community group, as part of the Council's asset transfer policy.

The much loved Baths, which opened in 1904, faced the threat of total closure last year, prompting a fierce campaign from Rachel, local councillors, local schools and Bramley residents. The campaign also garnered the support of the eminent Victorian Society and Olympian Duncan Goodhew.

You can read more about the history of the campaign to save Bramley Baths by clicking here.

The Friends of Bramley Baths came together following a public meeting that Rachel hosted in June 2011 which over 100 local residents attended to share their ideas for the future and hear what a potential community asset transfer would entail. Attendees at the meeting voted in favour of exploring the community asset transfer option and more than 20 local people volunteered to be part of a working group. This group of community volunteers, with the involvement of local charities BARCA Leeds and Bramley Elderly Action, became the Friends of Bramley Baths, chaired by former Leeds West MP John Battle.

On hearing the news today Rachel expressed delight and encouraged the local community to support the Friends and the Baths, praising the hard work of the Friends group and the contributions that the local community have made to the campaign.

Rachel was given the exciting task recently of opening an amazing ’Living Classroom’ at Holy Families RC Primary school in Armley.

At a special assembly the children had explained how they had been involved with all the plans for this outside classroom and one class had even had the important task of looking after the eggs until they hatched into baby chicks!

There was some wonderful singing from Key Stage one pupils. After cutting the yellow ribbon Rachel was able to watch the children carefully let the animals out; the hens, ducks and rabbits were allowed to roam free. At the end of the visit Rachel took home very fresh duck and hen eggs for her tea.

St. Marys Hospital is a base for a range of community based services for people of distinct ages- some of which are targeted at people living in West Leeds and some across the whole City. The hospital consists of various services regarding mental health and learning disability services that work with the service users, their families, carers and other agencies.
The hospital is also working to promote broad theme of health and inclusion, consultation events and training, all influenced by the service users themselves. Rachel got the chance to meet some of these users and discuss with them how they were benefitting from sessions that helped find good ways of promoting health messages to people who might find these services difficult to access.
Rachel said:
“It was excellent to get an opportunity to meet staff and service users. I was able to hear about innovative ways of providing care, and how people were benefitting from the range of services provided”.

Yesterday, Rachel and the Leeds West Labour Party hosted a lunchtime fundraising and post-election party at the fantastic Viva Cuba on Kirkstall road. Labour Party members, MPs, councillors, supporters, friends, family and students from across the city attended and Rachel gave a speech praising the hard campaign work of members and activists that resulted in 8 new Labour councillors in Leeds and gains throughout the UK, reiterating the message that Labour need to continue getting out on the doorstep, reaching out to individuals and their communities and re-engaging with non-registered voters.

Rachel would like to say a big thank you to everybody who attended and made this a great event and to Viva Cuba for hosting and providing excellent food.

As featured in the Yorkshire Evening Post today it is expected that senior councillors at Leeds City Council are expected to agree that control of the historic Bramley Baths be handed to the Friends of Bramley Baths, a group of community volunteers, under the council's community asset transfer policy. Rachel commented,

"I am delighted to hear that the Friends of Bramley Baths are close to taking on ownership of Bramley Baths and hope that we will be celebrating next week when the Council make their final decision. The Friends have worked incredibly hard to try and keep the Baths open for the people of Bramley and I wish them every success and hope that the local community will give them their full support"

The Bramley Baths Campaign:

The campaign to save Bramley Baths has been ongoing since early 2011, when the Baths faced the threat of total closure due to cuts to Leeds City Council's budget and Rachel, alongside local councillors, began the fight to keep the Baths open and ensure that opening hours weren't reduced too low. Local schools got involved in the campaign from the start when it became clear that their school swimming lessons at the Baths were under threat and hundreds of local residents signed petitions and wrote letters to Rachel's office voicing their support for the campaign.

Local Government Elections will be taking place across Leeds tomorrow, these elections are your opportunity to send a message to this Tory-led government about their damaging cuts, which have plunged us into a double dip recession.

In Leeds West we have fantastic Labour candidates standing in each electoral ward.

Armley: Cllr Alison Lowe
Bramley & Stanningley: Caroline Gruen
Farnley & Wortley: David Dresser
Kirkstall: Cllr Lucinda Yeadon

You can vote from 7am - 10pm and details about your polling station will be on your polling card, although you do not need your card with you to be able to vote. More information can be found on the Leeds City Council website.

Every vote counts so ensure that your voice is heard and that you are part of the democratic process.

On Friday Rachel hosted her third charity film night at Armley Mills Industrial Museum, again raising funds for Shelter.

Guests were treated to a screening of the 1943 film adaptation of Jane Eyre, starring Orson Wells and Joan Fontaine, with an introductory Q & A with writer and broadcaster Tony Earnshaw. Tony is a film critic for the Yorkshire Post and Radio Leeds, author of several books on cinema, including the acclaimed Made In Yorkshire (2008), and former Artistic Director of the Bradford International Film Festival. He is also Programme and Festival Director for Yorkshire based independent film company Reel Solutions.

Refreshments were kindly sponsored by Morrisons and the estimated fundraising total from this event is £800, making a grand total of £2000+ now raised for Shelter overall.

Rachel would like to once again thank Armley Mills Industrial Museum for hosting us.

Related Links:
Second Charity Film Night a Success for Shelter
Armley Mills Film Night Raises Funds for Shelter

On Saturday lunchtime Rachel was out at Bramley Shopping Centre with Cllr Ted Hanley, Cllr Neil Taggart and Labour local election candidate Caroline Gruen collecting petition signatures calling for Bramley Post Office to be reopened as soon as possible.

Despite the rain and cold over 150 people stopped to sign the petition and voice their concerns about the closure of the Post Office.

Following emergency meetings with the Post Office and Shopping Centre management last week Rachel is confident that the Bramley Post Office can be re-opened soon and we will be providing updates on this site as soon as we have further news.

Click here to read the entry from Rachel on the Post Office closure.

After several months of lobbying by Rachel Reeves, news came through recently that the House of Commons are to stock and sell Kirkstall Pale Ale as their “guest beer” for a week in the autumn. Rachel was delighted to hear the news and share it with the brewery staff when she visited last week.

The Brewery is situated by the Leeds, Liverpool canal and is in the shadow of the original Kirkstall Brewery. Kirkstall has a brewing heritage stretching back to the 12th century. Launched last summer by Steve Holt, who has a wealth of experience in the beer industry, the new Kirkstall Brewery revives the long tradition of brewing in the area.

Rachel said:

‘Kirkstall Brewery is a fantastic local business and I’ll be proud to support it when it comes to Parliament later this year.’

Rachel has organised a public meeting to give residents the opportunity to come together and voice their concerns and complaints about local bus services. This follows a prolonged campaign to improve the number of services between Rodley and Bramley and the publication of the results of Rachel’s bus survey, which revealed widespread dissatisfaction with services across Leeds West. A representative from First Bus will be attending.

The meeting will take place on Monday 28th May from 5:30pm at Leeds West Academy, Intake Lane, Rodley, LS13 1DQ. If you would like to attend to share your views but are unable to do so you can contact Rachel’s office to share any concerns, questions or complaints that you would like to be raised at the meeting.

You can now view Rachel's latest monthly report online by clicking the file link below. Stories this month include Harriet Harman's visit to Leeds, how changes to tax credits will affect families in Leeds West and Linda McAvan MEP's International Women's Day fundraising dinner.

Pictured: Judith Cummins, Cllr Kamila Maqsood, Cllr Rebecca Charlwood, Rachel Reeves MP, Cllr Alison Lowe and Fabian Hamilton MP.

Eight Lap Dancing Clubs in Leeds are due for licence reviews in early June and cross-party Leeds MPs, local Councillors, faith leaders: including the Dean of Leeds Cathedral the Rev Mgr Philip Moger, the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, John Packer, and the Imans’ of Leeds Mosques are objecting in an attempt to get these inappropriate venues out of prominent City Centre locations. Cllr Rebecca Charlwood, Moortown, is spearheading the campaign.

Two of the clubs are on The Headrow, Leeds City Centre’s busiest avenue, a civic hub, with some of Leeds’ best and most beautiful cultural attractions directly opposite, including the historic Leeds Town Hall, Leeds Central Library, Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute. These clubs also face Victoria Gardens, Leeds’s Speakers Corner, where political rallies and protests gather and war memorial services are held. I do not feel that it is appropriate that these venues should be in such an area, where they are fully visible to families, tourists, wedding parties and other visitors. The Headrow is one of Leeds City Centre’s most historically significant streets, appearing on maps as long ago as 1560, and is probably the best known.

Campaigners want to see a crack-down on these venues in significant public areas and also an end to the ‘touting’ that many of these clubs undertake to pick up business. Many of you may have seen or experienced these club’s garish limousines and Hummers cruising around Leeds City Centre at night, trying to lure in potential customers. This type of touting is unacceptably aggressive, ‘in your face’ and can be very disconcerting if you are simply walking through the City Centre at night and are approached by one of these vehicles.

Campaigners have signed the below objection and we are encouraging others to write in by contacting entertainment.licensing@leeds.gov.uk

This morning Rachel attended another great Big Breakfast session at Hillside Hall in Farnley. Neighbourhood Action volunteers come together every 6 months to put on the Big Breakfast for the over 55's in the community and cook attendees a breakfast of their choice. Rachel enjoyed a fantastic breakfast whilst chatting with guests about the issues of the day.

MPs will today vote on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. The Bill makes sweeping reforms to the funding of legal cases.

The Bill, which has suffered 11 defeats in the House of Lords, has it's third reading today. One of these excludes industrial disease cases from the Government’s reforms aimed at tackling the “compensation culture”, which would require claimants to pay 25% of damages to their lawyers.
Rachel will be voting on these measures. With the site of the infamous JW Roberts factory in Armley, the reforms to industrial and respiratory diseases are particularly important.

A recent landmark Supreme Court decision was a step forward for the victims of mesothelioma and related diseases, but the Legal Aid Bill will change the costs and risks with pursuing these cases.

Rachel said:

“The experience of people exposed to asbestos because they lived in close proximity to the JW Roberts factory makes it clear that we must make sure that the victims of workplace illnesses and asbestos related diseases have access to justice. At the same time that companies making asbestos knew that the fibres were deadly, they didn’t tell the parents of children playing asbestos snowballs, marking out hopscotch grids in the dust, or in some cases the workers being exposed to deadly fibres at work. MPs have to bear that in mind when they vote on Lords’ amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill today.”

Rachel has written to Justice Secretary Ken Clarke MP about the amendments, and has written about her reasons for voting on the measures here. Speaking about the wider bill, she said:

“It is important that savings are made in the total legal aid budget and I would support further reforms that reduce the cost of litigation while protecting access to justice and social welfare legal aid. I fear, however, that the Government’s proposals and their cuts to social welfare legal aid are disproportionate and unfair and could prevent the most vulnerable in society from pursuing legitimate legal action – particularly as the voluntary sector and organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau are also experiencing large budget reductions and do not have the capacity to provide legal advice on this scale.”

The new figures come as a leaked report from the Department of Health confirms the full costs of the reorganisation at over £3 billion.

New official figures list the costs of NHS redundancies in every community during the first year of the Tory-led Government's NHS re-organisation. Figures reveal that Leeds NHS has already been forced to spend £2,322,000 laying off staff - only for many expected to be re-employed elsewhere in the system. And this is just the first phase of redundancies - further damaging figures are expected in the summer.