News on Morley Town Deal

The transformation of Morley, backed by £24.3 million investment, is led by local people.

But what exactly do people want from Morley Town Deal ?

This blog gives a short, simple outline of what is important to the people of Morley and how they feel about proposed improvements.

Better parks and open spaces came out as the top answer to the initial question: How should money be spent in Morley? This was mirrored by strong support for greener streets, improving and introducing woodland, planting trees and tackling climate change.

Alongside this is strong support for preserving Morley’s heritage, bringing vacant buildings back into use and improving local shops as well as the town centre street scene.

Transport – whether better train travel or creating cycleways – and improving opportunities for local people were among the other popular answers.

Following this, Morley Town Deal introduced a series of proposed schemes – listed online at bit.ly/bettermorley – and the question: What projects would you most like to see happen?

The results tally with the earlier question. Greenspace improvements is the most popular project among Morley people, followed by improvements to heritage buildings and shop fronts, Morley Rail Station, New Pavilion and Morley Town Hall, among others.

Beyond this, 86 per cent of people who responded are positive about Morley Town Deal’s proposals. This contrasts with four per cent being negative and the rest describing themselves as neutral about the projects.

For those of you wanting more details on public feedback to Morley Town Deal, you can read this comprehensive 62-page report online .

Public engagement for Morley Town Deal took place late-2020 and heard from over 1,600 respondents. Of those nearly three-quarters live in the town with the remainder made up of those with family and friends in Morley, locally employed people, regular shoppers and other visitors.

Consultation involved interviews with residents and other stakeholders, events, online surveys and more. This work was overseen by national charity Locality and digital engagement consultants Commonplace.

More public views will be sought in the coming months as individual project proposals are further developed.