Thirteen days in to the refuse workers strike and Leeds is awash with rubbish. Refuse workers earn just £18,000 a year and the council wants to cut their wages by a third. That's not fair and it's not acceptable.

Refuse workers do an important job, and are not on a high wage. Lib Dem and Tory council leaders need to listen to local people and the refuse workers and find a resolution to this crisis, a crisis which councils across the country have successfully avoided.

At last week's Area Committee Meeting it was revealed that a shocking 100,000 tonnes a year of rubbish a year is now planned to be sent to Kirkstall's waste transfer site if the council get the go-ahead to build the super-size plant. That amounts to half the city's waste and is 25% more than published in recent plans.

This shows once again that the council have no intention of being open and honest with local residents.

I will continue to work with local residents, businesses and councillors to oppose the scheme.

Speeding cars are a big problem across the constituency, and Spen Lane in Kirkstall is a particular hotspot - with cars coming down the hill often exceeding 40 or even 50 mph. With the help of local councillors and community groups at Norman Towers and the Spens, we have been checking speeds and reporting back to the council.

If you are worried about speeding cars and would like us to do this in your area, please get in touch.

Rachel joined striking bin workers at Leeds Civic Council yesterday. Councils up and down the country have implemented the equal pay act without strikes, but in Leeds the Tory-Lib Dem coalition seem intent of cutting the pay of some of our lowest paid workers by a staggering £6,000. Another signal of what the Tories ‘age of austerity’ will look like – with working class families taking the hit.

Rachel, pictured above with Labour Group leader Keith Wakefield and Cllr Bernard Atha, has written an article on the wider impacts of Tory plans, you can access it here.