Tuesday 29 September: live updates from the Leeds Now newsroom

“Molly Fielding, event officer at Royal Armouries, wanted to “make a bit of a fuss” for Remembrance Day. However, she realised that she needed “6,000 to 8,000 poppies” to complete the wall. To her, this was “just too much” to handle alone.”

To celebrate World Rivers Day last Sunday the Make Leeds Swimmable campaign launched their petition to make Leeds a swimmable city again. 

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the city’s Royal Charter awarded by King Charles I and the start of when Leeds had a council and made their own rules for the city. Leeds City Library used their huge collection containing the history of the past 400 years but also earlier pieces too which they have displayed in their exhibition which runs until November 11th.

From September and throughout October Hyde Park Picture House and Scalarama Leeds are hosting a Leeds based “DIY” film festival celebrating all kinds of amateur production. Running through until October 14th the festival spans across many of Leeds’s small scale film venues such as The Attic, Outlaws Yacht Club and Hyde Park Book Club

Simon Seary, local Councillor for the Pudsey area has ‘finally received data from the Police’ after 3 years of finding it ‘difficult’ to approve of ‘large’ funding without ‘getting data’ and just ‘hoping it will as making a positive impact’ 

It is estimated there are at least 33,000 children living in poverty in Leeds.

Jackie Appleton, unit manager at the Baby Banks Leeds branch, says “there has been a noticeable increase in the amount of people coming out to us, especially this year”. Leeds Baby Banks aim is to get as many people as they can do donate every month to help ! The charity wants to support families in need by providing the essential baby items and equipment they need to give their children a good start in life.

The Bank of England has secured a new long-term office in Leeds at Capitol House in Bond Court. Moving on from the current temporary office on Eastern Parade, the new office will be refurbished and provide room for the 200 additional staff that are to be integrated into the Leeds office. This follows plans revealed in 2024 that outlined a commitment to increase the bank’s office presence in Leeds.
The move highlights the Bank’s continued commitment to Leeds as a leading financial hub in the north, even with the rise of Manchester within national ranks. The initial plans to establish a new “northern hub” arose in 2021, after an internal review found that the bank needed to expand its staff presence across the UK.

Retail vacancies in Leeds city centre have fallen to 8.8% which is the lowest seen since the figures were collated in 2019.
The number of empty retail units in Leeds city centre has fallen to a record low heading in to the busiest time of the year to shop. The fall in vacancies bodes well for the city as many other major cities nationally struggle to keep shoppers and visitors coming back in the city centres.

Haulage businesses have called for the government to lower the rate of tax they take at the pump after West Yorkshire diesel prices reached £198.07 per litre on Tuesday.
Joanne Gilbert from Gilbert Transport in Garforth says the price of diesel is squeezing the business significantly.
She added, “We’ve been serving the UK market for 30 years, and small businesses like us are the backbone of this country. You cannot build an economy on taxing small business.”
A spokesperson for fuel research charity the RAC Foundation said, “The government needs to recognise the pain being caused at the pumps. It’s within the gift of the chancellor to ease the misery that we see on the forecourts with a swipe of his pen.”
“The chancellor is collecting more than 80 pence per litre in taxation for every litre of petrol and diesel sold. That’s well over 40% of everything drivers and businesses are paying.”
 

In the following days, Leeds will see the opening of the station’s new Sustainable Travel Gateway. The development will see improved access between the station and city centre as well as new steps and lifts at the station entrance. The project is part of a further expansion to rail travel in Leeds, with an £11 billion programme underway in conjunction with the Transpennine Route Upgrade, but is the infrastructure ready for the increasing demand for rail travel?