Latest news with #Kirklees
The Sun
a day ago
- General
- The Sun
Frantic search for two missing schoolgirls, 15, who vanished 2 days ago as anyone who sees them urged to contact police
AN urgent search is underway to help find two missing schoolgirls who vanished two days ago. Amy-Leigh Heward and Hannah Tofik, both 15, were last seen in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, on Sunday night. 2 2 Cops have since launched an appeal to help find the teens, urging anyone who sees them to call 101. Amy-Leigh Heward, 15, is described as white, 5 foot 8, with brown/red straight shoulder length hair. She was last seen wearing grey jeans, a cream zip-up jacket and white Nike trainers. Hannah Tofik, 15, is described as white, 5 foot 6, of slim build with blonde / brown hair. She was last seen in the Dewsbury area wearing a black Adidas jacket with stripes on the arms, white crop top, black leggings and white trainers, and carrying a Nike rucksack. According to West Yorkshire Police: "It is thought they may have travelled to the North Yorkshire area." Anyone with information about their whereabouts should contact local police officers.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Lifestyle
- BBC News
Red dress created by hundreds of women to be displayed at Woven textile festival
A dress embroidered by 380 people from across the world is to go on display as part of a month-long celebration of Red Dress is a project led by artist Kirstie Macleod, which began in 2009 and involved work by 367 women and girls, 11 men and boys and two non-binary people from 51 will be displayed in Yorkshire for the first time as part of Woven, a biennial festival celebrating textile heritage crafts in Macleod said she was excited to be showcasing the piece at Oakwell Hall in Birstall. She said: "Oakwell Hall looks absolutely breathtaking. It has its own history and tradition, so it will be interesting to see The Red Dress in such a space."It's brilliant that they have this festival. I haven't been to an equivalent - a whole month of textile based happenings and events is fantastic." The Red Dress exhibition, which coincides with World Stitch Day on Sunday, will be the first time the item has been on display since Ms Macleod published a book about the tells the story of the dress's creation, as well as some of the stories of the people involved in creating 23 women have worn the dress, Ms Macloed said, but she has turned down many requests from people wanting to borrow it."You have to have contributed to the project to be able to wear the dress," she said."I really wanted it to have this very kind of strong, empowered feeling to it, but also hopefully be quite timeless."I have had so many people asking to wear it for various performances, weddings, even a coronation, but I said no because I'm trying to keep the focus of the project on the embroiderers and their stories."There was one curator from Bosnia who wore it and then a politician from Kosovo who was connected, otherwise it's all the embroiderers who have worn it."Woven festival runs from 1 to 30 June and is run by Kirklees Council. It was established in 2019 and takes place every other theme for 2025 is Connecting Culture, with more than 100 events designed to bring communities Natalie Walton said it would be the most "inclusive and diverse festival to date"."We're really excited to empower and connect communities together through the universal language of textiles, celebrating our rich heritage while looking toward the innovative future of the industry in the area," she said. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Council rejects residents' bid to own Netherton Village Hall
A plan by Huddersfield residents to take over a local "eyesore" and turn it into a community asset looks set to fail, after the council said it was "preparing to sell" Netherton Village boarded-up hall, on Meltham Road, has been out of use for several years, and was previously earmarked for disposal when Kirklees Council was grappling with a £47m black hole in its budget in 2023/ the time, the council had indicated, for some sites, it was open to the idea of a Community Asset Transfer - effectively handing a building over to local have raised a petition calling for the hall to be transferred to the community, but the council say it will be sold later this year. A petition, currently being circulated, calls on the council to restore the derelict hall and hand its ownership and management over to the community, so it can become a place "to be proud of".The petition outlines how the hall could "empower" residents, setting out eight benefits of a community-owned village hall, including increased usage and providing an economic boost to the wider area, by attracting the petition receives 3,000 signatures, it will be debated by full council, according to the Local Democracy Reporting signatory wrote: "The place is currently an eyesore. "It is slap-bang in the middle of the shops and right next to the bus stop, drawing people's attention to it. "I remember the days when it was used by various groups based in the community."I hope those days return before the building gets any worse." Future reinvestment However, asked whether the council would be open to the idea of a Community Asset Transfer in the case of Netherton Village Hall, the local authority made it clear its intention is to auction the property. Joanne Bartholomew, service director for development at Kirklees Council, said: "While a Community Asset Transfer has been explored for Netherton Village Hall in the past, this was not taken forward - and we are now preparing to sell the building later this year. "We hope that this auction will be successful, and this money can be reinvested into positive schemes for Kirklees' future." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
25-05-2025
- BBC News
Only 1% of Kirklees fly-tippers fined or prosecuted over 12 months
Fewer than 1% of fly-tipping incidents in Kirklees resulted in fines or prosecutions in the last year, data shows, despite a council's "zero tolerance" 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, 10,120 cases were reported to Kirklees Council, according to Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) this period, 53 fixed penalty notices were issued and 21 people were prosecuted in court, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. The local authority said further fines and prosecutions are due to take place over the coming months. The data revealed there were 8,317 cases reported in Kirklees in 2023/2024 and 7,182 in 2022/2023. Household waste accounted for almost a third of the borough's illegally dumped rubbish reports during these years. Several local councillors said the issue had worsened since the closure of Birstall's tip and a reduction of opening hours at the Meltham and Upper Cumberworth sites. When the changes to recycling sites were agreed, the council said it would be "closely monitoring" the situation and reiterated its "zero-tolerance" approach to authority recently said there was no evidence to suggest the problem had worsened in Meltham since the opening hours were on the latest figures, councillor Munir Ahmed said: "Our aim is to keep Kirklees as clean and green as possible, but in order to issue a fixed penalty notice we need evidence that links the waste back to a person."We rely on people who witness fly-tipping to provide us with a statement, and not having this evidence can hinder the number of fines we can issue and the number of offenders who can be prosecuted." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Kirklees Council took 'too long' over care fees decision
A local authority has been told to apologise after a woman was left unable to return to a care home for financial reasons following a hospital Council failed to make "timely decisions" and left it "too long" to decide whether or not the woman should pay for her own accommodation, an inquiry by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found. After staying in hospital for 12 days, the woman, who has not been named, moved to a different care home, where she died three weeks later, a report by the ombudsman Council said it "fully accepted" the ruling. According to the ombudsman's report, the woman was first admitted to the care home after her son, with whom she had lived up until then, died unexpectedly in paid for the first few weeks of her stay herself, the woman's daughter contacted Kirklees Council on her behalf to say she needed help funding her arrangements because her savings had fallen below the threshold where individuals have to pay for their own social after the woman received an "overdue reminder" from the care home to pay her fees, the council insisted that "no decision had been made", adding that it would not pay for her accommodation up until that point. 'Conflicting information' The home later gave the woman 28 days notice to leave, saying it was unable to continue to care for her without added that it "had not received any confirmation of payments from the council or the funding arrangements going forward".Two days before she was due to have to leave the home she was admitted to hospital, and upon recovering she was not accepted back at the home, the report staying in hospital for 12 days, she moved to a different care home, where she died three weeks ombudsman ruled that Kirklees Council took "too long" to make its financial assessment, given the situation the woman also said the authority gave "conflicting information" about how it treated the money the woman was due to inherit from her late son. The regulator told the council to apologise to the woman's daughter and pay her £300, as well as ensuring it had covered all the care home's fees.A spokesperson for Kirklees Council said: "We fully accept the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman's rulings in this case. We would like to offer our sincere apologies to Mrs X's family for any distress caused by the failures identified in the ruling."We have begun implementing the actions outlined in the report and are putting in place measures to make sure we can respond quickly and efficiently to all requests for financial support in future." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
