I'd like to register my dissatisfaction with the Yorkshire evening post and their timing of this article, I will stand corrected if I'm wrong on this but today is the penultimate day to register an objection. This article seems well timed to generate objections whilst responses to any future article in support of the development will be too late.

Funny how these officials chose the day after a general election being called to voice their opinions.

Correct me if i'm wrong TRB but hadn't Leeds Council been consulted all along about various issues, one of which was traffic and highways.

Now we have politicians riding the wave of ill informed scaremonger's, I would be scared but i know the planners have accommodated these issues into the plans, i know because i have read the plans myself, pity some residents don't do the same, they could save themselves a big slab of humble pie when Yorkcourt get the green light come July.

Yes objections close on the 8th.

Perhaps it's a little cynical, but the decision won't be swayed by objections if all the planning criteria is satisfactory.

Its too late for letters supporting their objection too.

We can still write in and put them in their place, stating our reasons for supporting the plan, hence why so many WAKEFIELD RESIDENTS wrote in letters of support.

What gets my goat more than anything is how Leeds & their officials think they can control and manipulate the rest of the county to their will. Westminster of Yorkshire my .
Well done Wakefield council for supports a scheme that builds our own wealth as a city, further strengthens our independence away from the "Greater Leeds" notion which occupies the heats of LCC.

Exactly that, aided and abetted by a lazy journalist at the YEP.

I can't see it making much difference.

I can kinda see their point. If Giants were making a Rugby League complex near Lepton (our backyard so to speak) with a huge industrial site I'd be at odds and I don't even live near there so traffic and flooding wouldn't even be an issue. I was upset at the Grange Moor site, it's what you see on the horizon looking out of Wakefield now. I'd want the Wakefield Express/YEP to throw a spanner in the works.

I'm all for our project though (but not so much the units, so many warehouses going bust) as we don't have a 'City' stadium and our district is a vast and populated one, the proposed land is no oil painting either...

Totally agree. I am sure Councillors have only crept out of woodwork now a General Election has been announced.

And on that note, where are all the council officials who were so vocal during the Thornes Park affair. They were very happy to add their political weight in order to prevent the TP development yet all stated their support for building the stadium somewhere else.

Bill Sanders and co should make their opinions known once again, before anyone points out that its not in their ward, it is in the interests of their constituants that we get these facilities.

No one consulted me about building an arena near Elland Road and I doubt any of the Leeds Councillors spared a second thought for people in Wakefield when they threw their support behind the arena project!

I have to travel from junction 40 into Leeds via the ring road, which passes Elland Road at least eight or ten times a week. Many of those journeys are made between the hours of 5PM and 7PM, So when the New Leeds Arena is holding an event I'm going to be stuck in queues of traffic, which could triple the time it takes to do my journey.

I wouldn't have objected to it anyway because I'm not petty enough to stand in the way of a very positive project that will not only enhance the lives of people who attend the arena, but will also create a large number of permanent jobs.

If WMDC wants this & Leeds want a fight over it we should use the Leeds Arena card as quickly as possible, Sheffield Council still want to put a stop to that, and have been "recruiting" councils to back them up. While we are located close to Leeds and one would assume would support this exciting venture how bad would it look if WMDC spoke out publicly against it and jumped on the "Yorkshire already has an arena" bandwagon.
These things work both ways.

No doubt the councillors and the people that are objecting to these proposals are probably on mega bucks every month, they don't care if this project creates a few thousand jobs for a few thousand grateful people.

or are retired and have their mortgage paid off!

Guys, calm down, well just a little!

The new seat of Elmet and Rothwell is now a marginal and is no. 107 of the Tories hit list. The old seat of Elmet was Tory but now Rothwell has been added it would be predicted to be a Labour Seat and the Tories requiring a projected 11.4% swing (based on 2005 results from both seats) to them to take this new seat. As such it is no surprise to me that all the candidates are all making a fuss of what would appear (and I use the term appear quite purposefully) to be a rising local issue. They might currently be local councillors but one of them will be the MP soon and they all want it to be them.

What better way to bring about local support and votes by saying they object to it. Of course, it has nothing to do with them and is outside their constituency, but which ever one wins the seat will I am sure fight hard, even against their own party, to stop this development! When they don't succeed (which they probably won't) they will be of course tell everyone how hard they tried and ultimately they did everything they could. You need to think sly now, that is what they are doing!

Also for the Tory, it is next to the seat that Ed Balls currently occupies and also will contest in the new Outwood & Morley seat. Although the Tories are not targeting the seat as such, as the predicted swing required is huge (20%), they are going all out to attack Balls personally and as a current government Minister and Anthony Calvert is talking about a possibly 'Portillo' moment! They would like to see Balls majority reduced substantially at best.

As for Leeds City Council as a whole, Ed Balls, Anthony Calvert, the Lib Dem (????), the three current councillors for ward 15 (Stanley & Outwood) and the candidates for ward 15 are all keeping (in public) quiet... at least for the moment! That should tell you much about what you need to know!

You are Jon Snow, and I claim my £5!

Oh, and also the largest employers and the majority of the jobs in which will be their new constituency of Elmet and Rothwell, do not rely on these types of developments or lower skilled workers however, Outwood and Morley does!

To quote the BBC website about both areas -

"Elmet and Rothwell is a mixture of rural communities and small towns stretching around the east of Leeds. Its electoral wards are Garforth and Swillington, Harewood, Kippax and Methley, Rothwell and Wetherby. The constituency is named after the town of Rothwell and the last Celtic kingdom in Britain to be overrun by the Anglo-Saxons.

Rothwell is the main market town in the former mining area, which also includes the smaller Garforth and Swillington. These are all now primarily commuter towns for Leeds. Though all the mines have been closed, many former miners still live in the vicinity with associated health problems.

To the north is the affluent market and racing town of Wetherby.

Outwood & Morley

"The areas traditional industries, such as textiles in Morley and mining in Outwood, have all but vanished, but the constituency has made a good recovery, buoyed by a diversified economy and the proximity to the booming city of Leeds.

The constituency is at the crossroads of the M1 and M62 motorways, and employers include engineering and distributive trades, many on industrial estates.

The area has become commuter territory and new housing is threatening to join up the villages between the two cities into something more like a single giant suburb."