The latest update is below:
New Chief Executive
Full Council formally approved the recommendation of its employment committee to appoint Ed Whiting OBE as the Council's new Chief Executive. Ed will be starting on 6th January.
Leeds, A Magical Christmas.
The Visit Leeds Christmas campaign is now live (look out for artwork in the city!) The team have seen particular success with a recent teaser video highlighting the Christmas lights across some of our shopping centres. With over 30k views and 1000 likes across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, this teaser has become the top performing in house video for Visit Leeds. The Christmas Markets open Friday 22nd November and runs until Sunday 22nd December. This year’s market is across two prime locations, City Square and Millennium Square (including Victoria Gardens), with additional weekend markets on Bond Court, Briggate and Albion Place. Find out more here.
Housing Leeds
Housing Leeds send monthly email updates to tenants, sharing key messages about their service and other useful information to 42,400 residents with an email address. A copy of the issue shared on the 1st November is available to view at: Housing Leeds update - 1 November 2024 - Repairs special
Connecting Leeds
Detailed plans have been published aiming to improve journeys for people walking, cycling and using public transport along Woodhouse Lane, Blenheim Terrace, Blenheim Walk and Albion Street. The plans follow on from a consultation earlier this year where the public were asked what issues they faced along the route, changes they would like to see, and which improvements should be prioritised. Residents, businesses and visitors to the area are encouraged to view the plans and have their say, before the consultation closes on 16th December. The consultation can be found here.
Cost of Living Monthly Bulletin - November edition attached
The Financial Inclusion Team produce a monthly bulletin (attached) to go alongside the live Cost of Living dashboard, both of which can be accessed via this link to the Leeds Observatory: https://observatory.leeds.gov.uk/home/cost-of-living/. We aim to publish the bulletin to coincide with the monthly release of the latest inflation data. We hope you find this useful. For any queries, please email us at [email protected].
Local developments:
· Motorists travelling into Leeds are being encouraged to plan ahead for what is typically the busiest time of year on the city centre’s roads. The run-up to the Christmas period always sees traffic increase with more people travelling into the city centre to shop and to enjoy events and festivities. Alongside this, Leeds City Council is working on a series of ongoing highways improvement schemes which will cause some disruption during construction but overall should improve accessibility or ease congestion in the long term. Further info can be found here.
· To coincide with national Road Safety Week (17th - 23rd November), newly-published figures by Leeds City Council show that a total of 13 people were killed on our roads in 2023, with 493 people seriously injured and a further 1,887 people suffering slight injuries. Whilst Leeds' latest figures are bucking regional and national trends, they remain higher than pre-pandemic levels. It is hoped that by bringing a stark focus to the previous year’s tragic statistics will encourage everyone to pay extra attention to theirs and other’s safety when using the city’s roads, and in some cases to change their behaviour before setting out on their journeys. Further info can be found here.
· Brown bin collections in Leeds are going into their usual annual winter hibernation after 30 November. With over four million brown bins emptied each year from over 221,500 households, Leeds City Council delivers the largest garden waste collection service in the UK. Brown bin collections are paused during the winter months due to the dramatically reduced demand for garden waste disposal, with the service resuming in spring. This year, the last round of collections began on Monday 18th November, with the final collection day being Saturday 30th November. Further info can be found here.
