As part of the ‘Our Spaces’ Strategy[1], the city considers a number of principles, one of which is that ‘our spaces will be inclusive, designed for all ages, abilities and reflect Leeds’ diverse communities’. As part of this strategy the city also plans for public space to become the greatest cultural asset, embedding culture into streets, park and urban space. The city has so far delivered three new and improved spaces at Playhouse Gardens (Quarry Hill), Woodhouse Gardens (Clay Pit Lane) and Queen square. Other projects are planned at Cookridge Street, The Corn Exchange and Meadow Lane which will create new areas of public realm.
A stakeholder mapping exercise helps the city to identify the relevant groups that will potentially be impacted by the proposals and this is carried out as part of the early development of the project. The consultation is then tailored to ensure that all of these groups are part of the consultation process and their feedback captured. It is then used to assist with the development of the project outcomes and benefits.
The city has also piloted new ways of working to improve community cohesion in Harehills, where new arrivals to the neighbourhood gave rise to some low-level tensions with more established communities. To address this, the city created a communications campaign to share messages that reinforce positive behaviour and warn of the potential consequences of poor behaviour in a simple and visual format that could be understood by speakers of multiple languages (wheelie bin stickers). The project also involved several sectors, including West Yorkshire Police, Leeds Anti-Social Behaviour Team and Communities, alongside partners to engage and bring local residents together to lead positive change in their area. A series of activities have taken place including weekly conversations, an ‘aspirations’ session with children, a community clean-up and a session where local roads were closed to create a play-space, facilitated by play workers and colleagues from Communities and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Team.
[1] https://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/documents/s180448/City%20Centre%20Vision%20Our%20Spaces%20Strategy%20Report%20Appendix%20B%20070918.pdf
