An ignored pile of leaves by Kirklees Council’s main entrance is a metaphor for the council’s lack of ambition, a senior councillor has claimed.
Deputy leader of Kirklees Conservatives, Clr John Taylor, says he has complained about the leaves three times, but nothing has been done.
He raised it with council director Naz Parker before Christmas, with the chief executive Jacqui Gedman in early January and with the deputy leader of the Labour group, Clr Shabir Pandor, last week.
Clr Taylor said: “If the council isn’t even concerned about the very building it works from, what hope is there?
“This is Civic Centre 3 where we have people coming to visit the chief executive and senior councillors.
“What impression does that leave if you’re someone coming to invest in the borough?
“It’s a symptom of the wider problem – a bit like charity starts at home, cleanliness starts at home.”
Clr Taylor’s complaint comes after it was highlighted that Leeds City Council is spending money on a deep clean of its town centre.
Asked if he thought senior officials had more important things to worry about than a small pile of leaves by the front door, Clr Taylor said: “This is what we’ve been saying for years; that the ambition and vision for this town is clearly lacking.
“If you want to get people on side, some of the small things actually matter.
“If you look at any of our neighbouring councils they are all improving things.
“Barnsley and Calderdale have built new libraries, Wakefield is improving – what are we doing?”
Deputy leader, Clr Shabir Pandor, said there “was no excuse” that the pile of leaves had been left.
“If he thinks it’s serious I will try to get it moved,” Clr Pandor responded.
“If he’s reported it then it should have been moved, there’s no excuse.”
Clr Pandor said his draft budget, set to be negotiated over the coming weeks, included £45m for town centre spending on things such as street cleaning.
He said: “We’ve got to take ownership of it.
“I want to reinvest in town and village centres and put something back in.
“We need to resource it.”
Clr Pandor said the goal was to achieve ‘purple flag’ status for Huddersfield town centre.
The Purple Flag standard, launched in 2012, is an accreditation process similar to the Green Flag award for parks and the Blue Flag for beaches.
It allows members of the public to quickly identify town and city centres that offer an entertaining, diverse, safe and enjoyable night out.
In West Yorkshire, only Leeds and Halifax currently have the status.
