We hope you got through Storm Boelo relatively unscathed. Other than a much-missed greenhouse window pane we’ve pulled through. Things looked markedly worse if you were attempting to fly to or from Leeds Bradford Airport — more on that below.
We’ve also got a look ahead to this week’s budget, which will fire the starting gun (no pun intended) on what could one day see at least part of the Olympics held in West Yorkshire, plus a swanky semi in Brighouse for Home of the Week.
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The round up
💰The budget is coming up this week, so what can we hope for? In plans trailed beforehand, there will be more money and power for local areas, which means Mayor Tracy Brabin and her combined authority. The total new cash will be £285m across the country — we’ll keep an eye out to see how much of that turns up here. But perhaps even more significant are plans to allow another £1.5bn of borrowing by mayors over the next two years. Brabin said that: “This additional funding to enable us to deliver better outcomes for local people is a welcome step forward as we rewire the state.”
The other eye-catching detail is a new £7m to develop plans for a “Northern Olympics” (BBC News). Back in June, various Northern mayors got together in Sheffield to discuss the idea, and they’ve clearly let their former mucker Andy Burnham know they want to make a go of it. If it does happen, it won’t be until the 2040s. Of course, every time the Olympics rolls around they bung a new sport in — surely this would be Rugby League’s moment?
Let us know your thoughts on a proposed Northern Olympics. And given we're in God's own country, we want to hear your suggestions for Yorkshire-esque events (we'll start you off: Yorkshire Pudding tossing).
🔵 We’re rolling back the years in Calverley and Farsley (two to be precise) as Tory candidate Amanda Carter pipped Labour’s Kathryn Penny in a two-horse race for the ward’s by-election last Thursday with 2,330 votes to 2,134. The byelection took place after the resignation of Labour councillor Peter Carlill last month, citing health reasons. Carter is a familiar name in these parts and now Councillor Andrew Carter is rejoined by Councillor Amanda Carter after she was ousted by Councillor Craig Timmins (Labour) in 2024, who she’ll now work alongside. Speaking to The Exchange this morning, Cllr Carter said: “I’m delighted to be back working in our local community. There are some major challenges ahead to deal with issues like speeding and rat running, crime, housing and green belt preservation, which I am determined to tackle.”
🏙️Remember Torsion, the company building Leeds’ biggest skyscraper, Sky Gardens? A couple of months ago we reported on how their partner, CityLife, behind the eco-utopia-in-the-sky concept was asking investors to put more and more money in. As for Torsion, the group’s construction arm had already gone into administration. Well, now the music has finally stopped. On Friday, the High Court officially ordered the company to be wound up, and it will enter liquidation (Place Yorkshire).
✈️Storm Boelo took its toll on Leeds Bradford Airport, with 36 flights cancelled yesterday (BBC News). The airport’s location probably didn’t help — as the highest airport in England it has very little protection from wind gusts. A passenger on a flight that did make it in got some pretty stomach-churning footage of one plane that did make it in wobbling about (Yorkshire Post). Elsewhere there’s been disruption to Northern trains (experienced by your jaded correspondent this morning).
🤬 More hospitality beef over in Pudsey, as The Funky Indian got into a social media spat. Celebrating its sixth birthday last week, the Pudsey-based business ran a number of promotions, including a mega box filled with curries and sides for just £19.99. However, “Jazfunkyindianisaprick” felt law enforcement needed to get involved and in the “Crimes of Bramley” Facebook group, they said: “Funky Indian is shit £50 for a curry box full of paneer strange.” Cue owner Jazz Gill resharing the post on the business page in jovial fashion: “Obviously this c*** didn’t have one cause it was £20 today”, adding: “Bramley must have some bigger crimes than some paneer surely.”
Gill then turned it into a miniseries, posting a picture of a palm tree from a last-minute trip abroad, saying: “Bramley has been upgraded since the frosty jacks pisshead spent £50 on paneer when the deal was £20!” We spoke to Gill this morning, from Greece, who told us the abuse usually stems from personal vendettas and in previous times has “almost made [the restaurant] bankrupt”. But now he’s taking on the haters. “If you give respect, you get respect back”, he says, adding with a chuckle: “If I’ve done nothing wrong, I’ll openly rip you in the arsehole. You get fed up with it.”
💬An investigation has revealed that those wanting to learn English in West Yorkshire face a two year delay to get classes. The report, from Hyphen, found that even with 3,500 places on English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses at Leeds City College, there were large waiting lists. Esther Derbyshire, head of ESOL at the college, said: “there is definitely more demand than we can possibly deliver within the funding that we have available to us”.
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The big picture
Some convenient clouds help illustrate just how tall the mast at Huddersfield’s Elmley Moor is — thank photographer Bradley Powell for capturing them so gloriously. You can follow his work here.
Catching up
Brad was working his socks off last week, bringing you two very different stories. In the first, he revisited the tragic case of Elliot Procter, a baby who died nine years ago after being thrown from a flat in Bradford. The article explored what happens when someone is released back into the community after committing “manslaughter by diminished responsibility”. “A terrible tragedy handled sensitively Brad, thank you. As ever it’s a difficult issue to balance risk & rehabilitation,” said Mark Fairhead.
Brad Deas
Then at the weekend, we covered the exciting announcement about a new station for Bradford! Except... when we looked at it in more depth, there was much more confusion — and it appeared this might in fact a downgrade from the original plans for a through station for the city. Neither the mayor, Tracy Brabin, or the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, would answer our questions on that one.
Brad Deas
Home of the week
This four-bedroomed house in Bracken Road, Brighouse is pretty much immaculate. It features an American diner-style seating area in a modern kitchen and Indian stone paving up to a raised decking area in the garden. The sellers are clearly keen to impress: you can see the vigorous hoovering they’ve done in the cosy little living room. On the market for £375,000.
Things to do
🧠Explore the links between your gut and your brain at what looks to be an interesting talk tonight at The Wardrobe. Nutritionist Natasha Draycott will be talking about “the two-way communication between the gut, brain, immune system, and hormones”, and promises to look at the science “without hype, fear, or food rules.” Not many tickets left, so grab one (for £18) here if you fancy it.
🎭 New play comes to Bradford: From Wednesday to Saturday, go see Barnbow Canaries, a new play about the munitions factory disaster in 1916. The disaster was barely reported upon at the time due to wartime restrictions. Tickets are £15.
🖼️Looking for a new artistic direction? On Thursday, head to Swarthmore Education Centre for an introduction to Collagraph printing — a technique that uses mixed media to create striking printed images. Tickets are £35, get them here.
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