We’re confident of getting funding to improve Oulton Primary School and the plan is to basically bring the school together into one building. This is likely to involve extending one of the existing blocks before demolishing the redundant building and making that part of ther site into a new play area. It is proposed to increase the capacity of the school to 420 places (2 Entry Forms) with a Nursery.

The retained building will be the subject of major refurbishment as part of the project. We are also looking to include resourced SEN and behavioural provision within the project. All works are expected to take place whilst the school is open and start on site is planned for February 2010 with an anticipated completion date of Summer 2011.

More later but, for anyone watching, I’m delighted to have just discovered that the developers have today announced that they are to withdraw their bid.

I’m prompted to write following two recent enquiries about the programme which we set up on coming in to office. Unadopted roads are often poorly maintained and can cause many problems for pedestrians and vehicles alike. Whilst there’s no obligation for us to do so we set about bringing these streets up to a good standard and the results are always impressive.

There were 123 streets in Leeds identified for the programme and almost £8m was earmarked for the improvements. The scheme runs until 2010/11. Owners whose properties front onto the roads in question are consulted before any work is done and most want the work doing. We had a fair number of streets in the ward included and, up to now, all but three sets of residents have decided to go ahead; the three roads in question remain in private ownership as per residents wishes.

We have completed:

• Bernard Street, Woodlesford
• Sydney Street, Woodlesford
• Back Gillett Lane, Rothwell (pictured, right)
• Coronation Street, Carlton

I expect that next year we’ll start on:

• Clement Terrace, Rothwell
• Talbot Terrace, Rothwell
• Armitage Terrace, Rothwell
• Cross Terrace, Rothwell

And in 2010/11:

• Claremont View, Oulton