Leeds local elections 2023: What the Conservatives promise as they say 'arrogant' Labour has 'lost touch'

Leeds’ “arrogant” Labour administration has “lost touch” with the people of the city, the local Conservative group has claimed. Andrew Carter, leader of Leeds City Council’s Tory Opposition, accused the ruling party of not taking responsibility for their “mistakes” in office.

Interviewed ahead of next month’s local elections, where 33 council seats across Leeds are being contested, Councillor Carter said a Conservative administration would overhaul the city’s planning system to make it “more robust” and tougher on developers.

And he said Labour’s rhetoric on climate change and the environment was “contradicted” by development taking place on the greenbelt. Labour has said its cross-party plans panels are bound by law to accept certain planning applications.

Councillor Carter said: “We’re the only Opposition party which consistently holds the Labour administration to account. Far too often other parties vote with the controlling group when they really ought to be considering their own independent views.

“They vote with an administration which gets more and more arrogant by the month and takes little notice, if any, of what the people of Leeds actually think.” He added: “In a nutshell, Labour has lost touch with the people of Leeds.”

Councillor Carter highlighted recent Labour proposals to bring in parking charges at public parks in the city, as well as its plans to close Queensway School in Yeadon.

Although both schemes were later scrapped after U-turns, Councillor Carter claimed they were part of a “litany” of errors. He also referenced “dreadful” failings in the authority’s children’s services, which led to a young girl being placed into the care of a convicted sex offender, and a damning report by the Housing Ombudsman, which criticised the council for its failure to treat damp and mould inside a residential flat.

Referring to the parking charges proposal, Coun Carter said: “How is that part of an agenda for a healthy city? It’s putting people off visiting parks. There’s no bus service to most of these parks, so people have to use the car. Of course when there was an outcry, they changed their minds. But it’s not about changing their minds. It’s about getting it right in the first place, and they singularly don’t.”

Asked if he felt the Conservative brand has been damaged over the last year by the revolving Downing Street door and chaos in Westminster, Councillor Carter defended the government’s response to the seismic events of the last three years. He also urged voters to “think locally” and ask themselves if Labour “deserves” to retain power in Leeds.

“In my lifetime there’s never been a government that’s had so much to deal with of an external nature,” he insisted. “I don’t think people have yet got their heads round how much damage Covid has done to individuals, to government finance and to people’s lifestyles.

“There’s been the war in Ukraine. Britain has been brilliant at supporting Ukraine, but it comes at a hell of a cost – not least the cost of energy.”

Councillor Carter accused Labour councillors of failing to hold local bus operators to account, amid waves of service cuts and timetable changes since the pandemic. The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) oversees public transport, but both the region’s Labour mayor Tracy Brabin and party colleagues insist they’re powerless to stop operators making cuts as private companies.

But Councillor Carter said: “You just have to look at the chaos on the roads in this city and the chaos on the buses. Don’t forget it’s members of the controlling group who sit on the transport committee on the mayoral authority.

“When they blame everyone but themselves, they should ask themselves why in other major local authorities they’ve not got the same problem with bus services that we’re having in Leeds.”

Councillor Carter called for stricter enforcement of planning rules to stop developers hurting communities and also took aim at Labour’s green credentials.

He said: “At planning meetings the first item on every agenda should be the naming and shaming of the builders who fail to fulfil their planning conditions. A planning department under a Conservative administration would be much more robust in enforcing the guidleines and policies that this council has set (at) cross-party (level).

“We know it’s hugely destructive to the environment when a digger starts excavating a greenbelt site for housing, when there are plenty of brownfield sites. And yet this council beats its chest about being environmentally friendly and the climate emergency. They’re simply not listening again.”

Conservatives in numbers

Current seats on Leeds City Council: 21/99 (2nd largest party)

Number of candidates standing in 2023 local elections: 33 (out of 33 wards)

Year first Conservative councillor elected in Leeds (since council was reorganised in its present form) : 1973

Conservative candidates standing in your area

Adel and Wharfedale – Billy Flynn

Alwoodley – Lyn Jean Buckley

Ardsley and Robin Hood – Lalit Raghunath Suryawanshi

Armley – Tamas Kovacs

Beeston and Holbeck – Muhammad Azeem

Bramley and Stanningley – Adam Daniel Cook

Burmantofts and Richmond Hill – Taiwo Funmilayo Adeyemi

Calverley and Farsley – Jas Singh

Chapel Allerton – Safaraz Ahad

Cross Gates and Whinmoor – John Kennedy

Farnley and Wortley – Natalia Justyna Armitage

Garforth and Swillington – Peter James Bentley

Gipton and Harehills – Robert David Winston Harris

Guiseley and Rawdon – Paul John Spencer Wadsworth

Harewood – Ryan Stephenson

Headingley and Hyde Park – Andrew Stuart Martin

Horsforth – Jackie Shemilt

Hunslet and Riverside – Owen Scott Rutherford

Killingbeck and Seacroft – Bradley Kenneth Chandler

Kippax and Methley – Connor Joseph Paul Mulhall

Kirkstall – Reiss Lewis Capitano

Little London and Woodhouse – Muhammad Sajjad Raja

Middleton Park – Samson Roberts Adeyemi

Moortown – Lee Anthony Farmer

Morley North – Dom Eatwell

Morley South – Charles Henry Jack George

Otley and Yeadon – Stewart Peter Harper

Pudsey – Trish Smith

Rothwell – Babatunde Abiodun Gbolade

Roundhay – Shazar Ahad

Temple Newsam – Cormac John Trigg

Weetwood – Angelo Basu

Wetherby – Linda Judith Richards