The Hare and Hound Public house are very pleased to announce that the village defibrillator will soon be installed, and everyone is invited to the grand opening.  Invites are also being sent out to Andrea Jenkins our MP and our local ward councillors.

The community have raised over £2,000 in order to secure the defibrillator and it is a much needed resource for West Ardsley.

The ribbon cutting will take place on Thursday 5^th July 7pm at the Hare and Hounds, Batley Road, so please do come and see what the community have achieved together and why there maybe a red phone box involved!

Have you heard of the Leeds Little Free Library?

The Leeds Little Free Librarys were started by Carrie Frank and they are funded by the Leeds Art council along with a donation which was raised by the community.  Each Library box has its own unique art work.

It is a wonderful resource in the community for book lovers

Did you know we have our own little free Library in West Ardsley? that right we do! its on Haighmoor Road near the brow of the hill, and everyone is welcome to take a book and leave a book- for free!

The book selection is rotated on a regular basis with childrens books on the bottom shelf and books for the grown ups on the higher shelf.

Happy Reading!

New bins have arrived at the reservoir and have been placed in strategic positions both for our use and ease of emptying by LCC refuse service.

New rubbish Bin at the kissing gate

There is now an additional bin at the end of the car park, and a further one at the kissing gate entrance to the reservoir.

Turn right towards the “windy side” and you will find 2 new bins opposite Reservoir House and the last new addition is in the corner next to the over spill.

A huge thank you to Yorkshire water and Leeds City Council who have worked together to arrange this.

We do hope that this will be a positive improvement and the bins get used on a daily basis.

It is very disheartening that after recent litter picks and placement of bins that rubbish is still being left on the floor; but now we have 7 bins rather than just 2 we really hope it will make a difference and help keep our local environment in tip top condition.

Mini Litter pick at the Reservoir

Some of the rubbish collected

On Sunday 27^th May a few locals gathered in the sunshine at the reservoir to tidy up some of the mess left by others.

5 of us (plus one small person) collected approximately 15 bags of rubbish. This rubbish consisted of a lot of cans, disposable barbeques and far too many full dog poo bags.

It’s so nice to see so many people using the local facilities and walking around our lovely reservoir and it’s a shame that not everyone respects it.

LCC worker marking the pavement

As well as our newly elected councillor Ben Garner,  joining us we also had the support of 2 lovely chaps from the council who helped fill bags and they also sprayed some dog poo signs on the paths. There are now quite a few orange signs around the village, lets hope it deters people from leaving dog muck everywhere.

Cllr Ben Garner litter picking at the Reservoir.

A huge thank you to those who came and it’s nice to meet more people who live near by, the community spirit keeps on growing.

Please watch the events calendar for more tidy up events coming in the next few months. Everyone is very welcome.

We have kindly been given some litter picking equipment for use in our community, by Leeds City Council, a huge thank you to Robert Finnegan for arranging this.

We have Leeds City Council bin bags, litter grabbers and some very fetching hi-vi vests!

We think it’s important that we take a pride in our community, after all, anti-social behaviour such as littering leads to more anti-social behaviour.

in the very near future we will be arranging community litter picks in various locations around our neighbourhood, including the reservoir which unfortunately has been left in an unpleasant state after the bank holiday weekend.

If you know of any areas that needs particular attention please do let us know, this week we will tackling the track at the bottom of Haighmoor Road which is part of the Leeds Country Way. unfortunately, some dog owners think it is acceptable to bag the poop and then hang those said bags from trees and fences.

Please do let your children and young people know the importance of taking litter home with them or using the nearest bin, as they will grow into adults who respect where they live.

Woodland Walk

Andrea Jenkyns supporting her constituants

On Saturday 12^th May the sun came out and the people of West Ardsley, joined by Andrea Jenkyns once again showed solidarity against the unstainable development of 299 houses in the fields surrounding Haigh Woods. Taking time to enjoy the beautiful bluebells that grow in the area local residents came out in force to enjoy the sunshine and cakes from a bake sale held in the middle of the woods.

The original deadline for comments and objections, of 16^th March 2018 has been extended to July 2018, until the outcome of the site allocation plan (SAP) is known. With this is mind WAAG are still campaigning and urging people who have not yet objected to do so to further strengthen the 2,400 objections that have already been delivered to Leeds city council planning offices.

The bake sale raised an amazing £130 and WAAG would like to say a huge thank you to those who donated and cooked. These monies will go towards campaign posters and literature.

Putting politics aside

Today, the West Ardsley Action Group (WAAG!) have taken the bold step of purchasing a domain name for the village of West Ardsley and creating the West Ardsley community website.

We would like these pages to be about our community, for the community, giving you all the information and more at your fingertips. In the coming weeks we will be sharing news, campaigns, recommendations and things to do in our village.

Recently, some of the community have been fighting plans for a housing development in one of our green spaces. The message we have heard time and time again from this is how it feels like everyone is coming together and how it is fantastic to share in a like-minded community once again.

We don’t want this to come to an end, hence our mission to launch WestArdsley.co.uk

WAAG have also been working hard with residents to look at other issues affecting us all – such as bins and yes, dog poo (!), alongside other issues such as poor parking, etc.

WAAG will be featuring additional content to WestArdsley.co.uk on a regular basis in the coming months, so please do visit us often!

On the 25th February 2018, a group of volunteers, spurred on by a local resident, marched to Ardsley Reservoir to demonstrate against the currently planned 299 housing development in the West Ardsley area. During the event, over 100 more objection letters were signed.

Afterwards the group helped to pick up litter around Ardsley Reservoir! The skip, kindly provided by Leeds City Council was soon filled to the brim with rubbish (amongst normal rubbish items placed in the skip, tyres, children’s toys and animal bones were found) – a great success!

Read the whole article on the Yorkshire Evening Post pages.