From sit ins to trolleybuses - a decade in the political life of Leeds

We look at some of the Leeds City Council-related political headlines which were made in Leeds over the past 10 years.

May 6, 2010

The decade began with a seismic shift in the balance of power in Civic Hall.

Following six years of a Liberal Democrat/Conservative coalition ruling Leeds City Council, Labour managed to claw back five seats, leaving them just three short of an overall majority.

Following the result, there was soon talk of the group making an electoral pact with the city’s Green Party councillors.

Leeds Labour leader Coun Keith Wakefield told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “The Greens have been very supportive over the years and we have very similar commitment about certain issues. It’s an option that we will be talking about.”

The 2010s have since been Labour’s decade, as the party has been in control of the council ever since.

February 23, 2011

Leeds City Council’s annual budget meeting was stormed by protestors angry at impending cuts the authority was set to make in its 11/12 budget.

Students and other anti-cuts campaigners had gathered outside to protest before entering the Civic Hall council chamber and staging a sit-in.

As a result, the budget could not be heard

The budget, which included job losses and spending cuts of around £90 million, was eventually approved.

July 7, 2012

Leeds’s decades-long campaign for a modern transport system looked to have finally ended after government ministers gave the green light to a £250m electric trolleybus scheme.

Yorkshire-born transport secretary Justine Greening ended years of uncertainty from Whitehall by signing off the UK’s first modern-day trolleybus system for the city.

It was hoped that, by 2018, electric buses powered by overhead wires would be running across the city on a north/south route every six minutes during peak times.

August 1, 2015

The Yorkshire Evening Post revealed that an “experiment” to let sex workers operate freely in part of Leeds was to be extended.

The Holbeck “managed area” meant the women could ply their trade on certain streets between 7pm and 7am as long as they stick to a list of rules.

Leeds’s managed zone is still in place to this day.

September 2015

Not really a date for this one, as the issue lasted for quite a while.

Following the Conservatives’ election win in May, Chancellor George Osborne was able to press ahead with his plans for elected mayors and devolved powers to city regions.

In September, the Government asked councils interested in devolution to put forward their proposals. Yorkshire submitted six different plans, including a Leeds City Region deal – covering West Yorkshire, Harrogate and Craven.

This plan eventually faltered over concerns in North Yorkshire about the ‘loss’ of two districts and opposition from West Yorkshire Conservative MPs.

Leeds is still yet to see a devolution deal.

May 13, 2016

The government sensationally pulled the plug on Leeds’s long-awaited trolleybus scheme.

Transport Minister Lord Ahmad accepted a planning inspector’s recommendation the scheme should not go ahead, as they felt Leeds City Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority had not demonstrated that the benefits of the scheme would outweigh the damage that could be caused by construction along the route.

More than £70m had been spent on the trolleybus scheme and its predecessor Supertram in almost 30 years of attempts to create a transport system fit for Leeds.

Ministers promised the £173m of Government cash earmarked for trolleybus will be spent in Leeds which now looks set to turn to tram-train technology as part of a wider plan for a metro-style transport system.

February 17, 2017

The council played host to a brand new political party.

Following the resignation from the Labour group of long-serving Garforth councillor Mark Dobson, his ward colleague Sarah Field – who was elected in May 2016 – also walked out to join the newly formed Garforth and Swillington Independents Group headed by Coun Dobson.

The two had cited issues with the council’s leadership and direction, expressing particular concern at the authority’s stance on care home closures.

The following May, Labour’s last remaining seat in the ward was won by Suzanne McCormack, meaning the Garforth and Swillington ward was now fully occupied by the independents group.

October 31, 2018

Broadcaster Channel 4 shocked the nation by announcing it was moving its headquarters to Leeds.

The announcement followed concerted bidding efforts from both Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority as the city went up against both Manchester and Birmingham.

It was expected that the new headquarters would bring 300 jobs to the city, bringing with it a new news hub.

The broadcaster has since announced it would move into the renovated former Majestic building near city square.

March 27, 2019

Councillors in Leeds declared a climate emergency.

The ruling Labour administration submitted a motion to declare the emergency and call on the Government to provide the council with funding and powers to make city carbon neutral by 2030.

Ahead of the meeting, council leader Judith Blake said: “The climate emergency is real. If we don’t take radical action much sooner than previously thought it will be too late to avert climate disaster and all the extreme consequences that will bring. Many young people have expressed their understandable concern about this and its right they are listened to.”

May 22, 2019

An historic day for Leeds, as the city elected its first-ever West Indian lord mayor.

Coun Eileen Taylor, who served as a Labour member of council since 2008, was elected unanimously by fellow councillors at the authority’s annual general meeting.

She became the 126th Lord Mayor of Leeds, and followed Coun Graham Latty into the role.

Speaking following her election, Coun Taylor said: “I never would have thought that I would see this day, but it is here, and I am absolutely delighted to have this privilege to be Lord Mayor and ambassador for this city.

“When I arrived [from Jamaica in the 1970s], my dad always shared with me that you should mix with everyone, you should listen and learn, and respect everyone because we are all different. I am so glad I listened to those wise words.”