We're running 5th-8th November in venues around Morley.

We have something for everyone!

Get your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/morley-literature-festival-4880476?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=creatorshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=odclsxcollection&utm-source=cp&aff=escb

Hi, I'm a WOC and deciding on where to move to in Leeds, from Manchester.

Bilberry Bank on Station Road has received new street lighting and vegetation clearance as part of early works on the wider Station Gateway scheme.

The scheme, funded by Morley Town Deal and Network Rail First and Last Mile aims to promote pedestrian connections between the town centre and Morley station, by providing a safe pedestrian route to the station.

Further works to shortly be undertaken will include step free access and a designated crossing point.

Hi — I'm a journalist looking into "clean-up crews" in Leeds: groups of men, often not students themselves and sometimes considerably older, who circle nightlife areas in cars waiting for clubs and bars to close. They target women who are drunk, alone, or separated from friends, and use offers of lifts, drugs, or money to get them into their cars — sometimes deliberately splitting up groups of friends in the process.

If you've been approached, targeted, or put in a dangerous situation like this in Leeds — or you know someone who has — I'd like to hear from you. You don't need to have reported it to police to talk to me. You can stay anonymous, and I'm happy to talk off the record first so you know exactly what you're comfortable with before anything goes further.

I'm also trying to map hotspots — specific streets, clubs, or areas around Leeds where this happens regularly. Even if it hasn't happened to you directly, if you've noticed cars doing this outside a particular venue, that's useful too.

Please reach out via DM here. Everything is confidential, and nothing is used without your say-so.

The papers for the next Morley Town Deal Board meeting have been published, so I’ve gone through them and pulled out the bits that are probably most relevant to residents.

The Town Deal is worth £24.3m, with projects covering the town centre, Town Hall, Skills Centre, parks, public realm and Morley Station. 

🏛️ Morley Town Hall

Work is continuing and the project is currently still reported as within budget, although there are ongoing issues being worked through.

Scaffolding is now up around Alexandra Hall so the roof can be properly inspected. Most of the building issues have been identified and solutions are being developed. A new café floor has also been approved, while ventilation and fire-safety work is progressing.

The current target is May 2027, although the milestone table identifies an estimated 11.5-week delay. 

🎓 Morley Learning & Skills Centre

This is the biggest concern in the papers.

The project is currently rated RED. Work is continuing, but additional repairs are required to the plasterwork and roof timbers, with further structural issues found around the front of the building and roof supports.

The costs are still being assessed and there is a stated risk to the contingency budget. The anticipated completion date is June 2027, with Luminate expected to fit out the building afterwards. 

🌳 Parks and green spaces

There's quite a lot happening here:

• Scatcherd Park sunken garden works have started.
• Scatcherd Park playground works are next.
• Beryl Burton pocket park is going through the Traffic Regulation Order process, with work expected in early 2027.
• Tree planting in Drighlington is being explored.
• The Greenway is progressing, although one landowner issue remains.

The Greenway has agreements in principle with three landowners. One requires a Public Path Creation Order, with a "light touch" alternative being developed if agreement can't be reached. 

🚶 Queen Street / Commercial Street

A contractor has been appointed for the Commercial Street and Queen Street pedestrian scheme, with works expected to start in October and last around 16 weeks.

There are also three early schemes around Morley Station/Bilberry Bank due to start in October. 

🏪 Heritage shopfronts

The remaining Morley Bottoms/Queen Street shopfront works are expected to be completed by October 2026.

The papers say the remaining programme budget will then be reallocated elsewhere within the wider Town Deal programme. 

🚉 Morley Station

The Station Gateway programme remains green/amber, with enabling works around the station and Bilberry Bank starting in October.

The Station Road Traffic Regulation Order is expected to be completed in October, with wayfinding planned for early 2027. 

The overall picture

The programme is now well into construction, with the majority of projects progressing. The main areas to watch are the Learning & Skills Centre and Town Hall, particularly the impact of building issues, contingency budgets and delays.

The papers say the overall programme is targeting completion of all projects by June 2027, although the remaining public realm schemes are currently scheduled into summer/autumn 2027 and the Greenway is targeted for early 2027. 

One other interesting point: the agenda includes a proposal relating to Lewisham Community Centre, so that could be worth watching at the meeting too. The previous papers showed that a Community Asset Transfer proposal had been raised, with a business case required before it could be considered. 

The next Town Deal Board meeting is 29 September at St Peter's Morley Community Centre and the meetings are open to the public, with questions able to be submitted in advance.

The Morley Town Deal Annual Satisfaction Survey is now open, giving local residents the chance to share their views on life in Morley and how the Town Deal has progressed into its final delivery stages.

The survey only takes a few minutes to complete, and responses are anonymous. Your feedback will help inform the monitoring and evaluation of the Town Deal projects.

And there’s a chance to win £75 in White Rose Shopping Centre vouchers.

The survey closes at the end of October 2026.

👉 https://bit.ly/morleysatisfactionsurvey26

If you live in Morley, take a few minutes to have your say — good, bad or indifferent, your feedback matters.

Scatcherd Park improvements have started 🌳

Work has now started on improvements to Scatcherd Park, beginning with the refurbishment of the Sunken Garden.

The refurbished area will include:

• New seating
• Tree and bulb planting
• A new access ramp

The work is expected to take around 8 weeks and is being funded through the Morley Town Deal, alongside Section 106 and Community Infrastructure Levy funding.

The remaining works, including the new playground, are expected to begin in October 2026.

Good to see the improvements finally getting underway.

Thank you to the Magnificent 5 Muckbusters last weekend!! 🫡 I salute you.

In surprisingly glorious weather, we got out to (re-)tackle a stretch of path between Dewsbury Road and the White Rose Centre. Unfortunately, the grass cutters had come in and revealed (and sliced and diced into a million pieces) loads of litter. Needless to say, the job required a good dollop of Factor 50 and a replenishing Sam Smith’s pint.

Who are the Muckbusters?

The Morley Muckbusters are a positive action group. We want to show you how to take control of your community and have pride in where you live. If you see something you don’t like, you can do something about it. We love Morley, we love England. This is our homeland. Let’s make it feel that way 😀

If you’d like to come out with the Muckbusters, message me or join our Facebook group. We’ll have you out picking in no time at all. You don’t need any special skills or expertise, just a bit of enthusiasm and a willingness to put up with my bad jokes.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1224136033193520

P.S. The report at the end of the video is a fly-tipping report – we use them to notify the council about rubbish we've collected when there’s no nearby public bin. And, as ever, thank you to Cllr Nigel Bywater and Litter Free Leeds for providing us with the purple bin bags and litterpickers 🫡

After we kicked up a fuss, our councillors have responded with two separate approaches. It’s now for us to hold them to account…

Reform UK – Turn the right-turn-only lane on SQS into parking bays. They are currently in contact with Highways to model the impact of traffic flow.

Morley Borough Independents – Introduce regular Parking enforcement on SQS and surrounding streets, particularly out of hours at weekends. Also, explore options double-red lines and escalation for repeat offenders.

At this stage, I prefer the MBI’s general direction (Caveat – these are broad strokes, e.g. Reform have also hinted at escalation for repeat offenders).

I can see the merits of Reform’s softer approach. If we can create additional parking capacity, it would give the takeaway owners and drivers an opportunity to change their behaviour. That is fair before immediately going to restrictive measures.

My concern is what happens if they don’t…

Turning the lane into parking bays would need at least 5-6 spaces. Even then, the drivers may still park on surrounding streets. More fundamentally, the issue isn’t actually a lack of parking. It’s the drivers’ and owners’ behaviour: they’re blocking the road, speeding, driving the wrong way, spitting paan and fag ends, littering. They are being disrespectful TO YOU and additional parking bays will not change that. Ultimately, I don’t want to accommodate/reward their shitty behaviour. I’ll be interested to see the results of the traffic modelling because SQS does get busy already with two lanes. Reform’s idea needs to come with a commitment to regular Parking Services enforcement and a willingness to escalate if the behaviour continues. If that doesn’t happen, I will kick up a fuss.

The MBI approach has, on the other hand, produced immediate results. Multiple people have already told me that the bottom of King Street has become noticeably clearer since wardens have started going out and fining people. I have seen it myself on King Street and SQS. Enforcing the law works. More importantly, it makes me feel that Morley residents and our laws actually matter.

Another option is the car park on West Street which is current blocked off by a private developer. It would significantly reduce parking pressure for residents in the area with 26 new spaces – we would be much less pissed off when it gets busy.

I attended Jane Senior’s surgery a fortnight ago and asked about Parking Enforcement. Yes, it is difficult because there are relatively few parking attendants. But councillors can request additional enforcement on specific streets, including out of hours – admittedly, those requests need to be made repeatedly.

Perhaps this is an opportunity for cooperation between Morley’s main parties – we find this issue very annoying and we would like you to work together to fix this.

We are actually lucky to have responsive councillors. They are trying. We must also kick up a stink and fight for what we want.

Once we have a workable blueprint for SQS, we can then tackle the beast that is Chapel Hill…

£250–£1,500 available for a Morley community/cultural project

Hi everyone,

I’ve come across this Leeds City Council Seasons of Culture – Explore & Experience Grant Scheme, and thought it might be worth sharing here in case anyone in Morley has an idea that could benefit the community.

They’re offering grants of £250 to £1,500 for creative and cultural activities connected to green and blue spaces - things like parks, rivers, canals, woodlands and nature reserves.

Projects could involve things like:

• Community art or photography
• Creative walks or outdoor activities
• Nature-themed performances or exhibitions
• Storytelling and local history
• Activities focused on nature, sustainability or climate resilience

They’re particularly interested in projects that involve local communities and people who may not always have access to cultural activities.

The deadline is 12 noon on Thursday 27 August, so there isn't long!

I wondered whether there might be an opportunity for something specifically around Morley - perhaps using one of our parks or other local green spaces and getting residents involved.

If anyone has an idea, or is already involved with a community/voluntary group in Morley, this could be worth a look.

More information is available through Leeds City Council's Seasons of Culture funding page.

So the council have decided that the Cherry Tree in Sparrow Park on South Queen Street was to be no longer and have sent the Tree Surgeons round to remove it.

Yes, I know a large branch did shear itself off June, probably dead, but it was home to a pair of nesting Magpies who've definitely lost their brood this year.

RIP tree, you provided spectacular blossoms every April/May

DPP Planning have opened a public consultation ahead of submitting an outline planning application to Leeds City Council, on behalf of CEC Yorkshire Ltd, for a residential development at Valley Mills, Valley Road, Morley.

Consultation closes 20th August 2026.

The site

• Currently a construction yard with parking and storage serving several small businesses
• Used by Network Rail during the TransPennine Route Upgrade works at Morley Station, completed 2023
• The northern part is safeguarded as a waste management site in the Natural Resources and Waste Local Plan (Policy Waste 2, Site 85) — though not in active waste use since 2014
• Classed as previously developed (brownfield) land

What's proposed

• 130–140 dwellings, subject to site testing
• Outline permission with all matters reserved except access and scale — layout, appearance and landscaping would come later via reserved matters
• Heights of up to six storeys, mixed typologies including mews houses and townhouses
• Expected to be Build-to-Rent (BTR), plus a policy-compliant level of affordable housing
• Green infrastructure and a minimum of 10% Biodiversity Net Gain

Access

Vehicular access is proposed via Valley Road, a private unadopted road. Previous applications here were refused on highway grounds.

The applicant says pre-application engagement with the Council has established those concerns can be addressed through works to Valley Road, expected to include:

• Resurfacing
• Kerbed footways
• Carriageway reconstruction and strengthening
• Drainage measures

They also suggest the development is an opportunity to improve access to the reconfigured station.

How to comment

Email: [consultation@dppukltd.com](mailto:consultation@dppukltd.com)

Post: DPP, One Park Row, Leeds, LS1 5HN

Deadline: 20th August 2026

Comments are subject to DPP's privacy policy. There'll be another chance to comment once the application is formally submitted to Leeds City Council.

Downloads

Site location plan, illustrative CGI and five design concepts: https://dpp1.co.uk/valley-mills/

This is a consultation, not an approved scheme — feedback at this stage is where it carries the most weight. Worth a look if you're near Valley Road or use the station.