Armley Forum...what happened

The Armley Forum was chaired by councillor Janet Harper and was fairly well organised. My main problem was hearing everything that was said due to people grumbling under their breath and a lot of coughing.
Subjects that were discussed were:

• Armley Leisure Centre - alleged poor conditions of cleanliness both of the the pool and the centre as a whole. The deputy manager defended the condition saying they were mainly down to the age of the centre and the fact that it was impossible to avoid having prams rolling across the poolside.
• The site of the new lesiure centre was briefly discussed. It will be on the site of the existing car park and there will be floodlit outdoor pitches, one of which will be left open after hours for local kids to play on. There was also something about a chill centre for the kids to hang out in.
• There were various complaints about "youths", "bins" and "mini-motos", all of which I expect are a symptom of living in an areas with a large amount of disaffected teenagers. The police said they were concentrating on certain areas such as the Cedars and the Salisburys but a lot of the time they could not arrest the kids as they were not committing crimes. They advised people to phone the non-emergency number if they had evidence or knowledge of anti-social behaviour.
• There was a lengthy presentation from youth worker Kevin Donnelly about his trip to the favelas of Rio de Janerio. I won't go into it but he detailed his various encounters with drugs and violence and took a swipe at the old cynics saying "if we don't value our youths then the drug dealers will".

That's all I can remember. The Todd's debacle was briefly mentioned with someone pointing out that although they have gained planning permission they are yet to get a betting licence.

I also had a brief conversation with the Armley Moor Trust treasurer who said he was having difficulties getting planning permission for a new hut on Charlie Cake Park.