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Leeds City Council’s £1 million housing crisis

Leeds City Council has spent just more than £1m on providing emergency accommodation for the homeless in the last year, the Yorkshire Evening Post can reveal.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show the £1m spent by the council in 2012/13 was nearly twice the £540,000 from the previous year.

The cost been rising since 2010/11 – when it stood at £209,000 – as the housing crisis continues to deepen in the economic downturn.

Residents are put into emergency accommodation when deemed homeless in what is meant to be a temporary move – but figures show people have been going months without a proper home. One stay racked up 46 weeks in 2012/13, costing a total of £36,463.

To read more, please click on this link:
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/leeds-city-council-s-1-million-housing-crisis-1-6351593

Adel Crag added: Please bring this information to the attention of your friends and neighbours who may not have access to the internet.

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Leeds council tax set to rise as cuts bite

Leeds Town HallLeeds householders have been handed a council tax bombshell just two weeks before Christmas.

Plans to increase the local levy by two per cent next year, following a three-year freeze, were revealed last night by Leeds city council. Another 274 jobs at the authority are also set to be slashed to cut running costs.

Council leader Coun Keith Wakefield admitted it was a “dire financial situation”. He said: “We cannot continue to freeze council tax as it reduces our income to the point where it threatens our ability to support even the services we must provide by law.”

The current council tax for a band D property in Leeds is £1,316.39. A two-percent rise would equate to £26. The council has suffered Government grant reductions of £94m over the past three years, with £36m to be cut next year,

To read more, please click on this link:
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/leeds-council-tax-set-to-rise-as-cuts-bite-1-6307866

Adel Crag added: Please bring this information to the attention of your friends and neighbours who may not have access to the internet.

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Royal Mail Xmas Last Posting Dates

Please be aware of the Last posting Dates for Christmas 2013

Post Box

UK Inland Deliveries

Wednesday 18 December – 2nd Class and Royal Mail Signed For
Friday 20 December – 1st Class and Royal Mail Signed For
Monday 23 December – Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed

International Airmail

Wednesday 4 December            Asia, Far East (including Japan), New Zealand
Thursday 5 December                Australia
Friday 6 December                     Africa, Caribbean, Central & South America, Middle East
Monday 9 December                  Cyprus, Eastern Europe
Tuesday 10 December               Canada, France Greece, Poland
Friday 13 December                   USA
Saturday 14 December              Western Europe (excluding France, Greece Poland)

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Heat or eat? Elderly Leeds residents left facing grim choice during winter

Keep WarmFour old people each day will die as a result of the cold in Leeds this winter as the city’s elderly population struggles with the grim task of deciding whether to ‘eat or heat’.

That was the warning today from the Age UK charity, highlighting the tragic human cost of the country’s rising fuel bills.

Four of the UK’s so-called ‘big six’ energy suppliers have recently announced plans to put up their prices.

SSE, British Gas, Npower and Scottish Power are hiking their domestic charges by as much as 10 per cent from the middle of next month.

Age UK Leeds chief executive Solo, who uses just a single name, told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “The older population simply cannot afford [these price rises]. It is a choice between eating or heating for many. Both have serious consequences if not undertaken.

To read more, please click on this link:
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/heat-or-eat-elderly-leeds-residents-left-facing-grim-choice-during-winter-1-6189618

Adel Crag added: Please bring this information to the attention of your friends and neighbours who may not have access to the internet.

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Bus firm fights disability ruling

First Bus

A bus company has said they intend to appeal a decision made by a Leeds judge to give priority seating to wheelchair users.

First Bus Group have confirmed that they intend to appeal against the decision made last September to give wheelchair users priority over mothers with pushchairs.

The original claimant Doug Paulley, 35, took the company to court after he was not able to get on a bus because a mother refused to move her pram, in fear of waking her child.

The court ruling stated that it was an unlawful discrimination and awarded Mr Paulley £5,500, and asked First Bus to change their policy.

To read more, please click on this link:
http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/bus-firm-fights-disability-ruling-1-6163809

Adel Crag added: Please bring this information to the attention of your friends and neighbours who may not have access to the internet.