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6th March 2003
The interview concerned the problem of a blocked sewer leaking raw effluence straight down the side of Gledhow Valley, through the woods and over footpaths. It was first broadcast on the Radio Leeds Breakfast Show between 6.55am and 7.00am on Thursday 6th March 2003, and involved the following people:
A full transcript of the interview is provided further down this page, but it is also available to listen to as an MP3 audio file, which you can download below.
Note: Sound quality has been sacrificed to a degree in order to keep the file size as small as possible. You will need to have software capable of playing MP3 files (such as QuickTime) in order to listen to the interview... if you have any difficulties, please see the Help! page.
This interview is a follow-up to an original interview held on the previous day. The original interview can be found on the page entitled 05-03-2003 Campaign Against Leaking Sewer in the Woods (Part 1). Further information on the issue can be found on the Campaigning Against Water Pollution page in the Examples of How the Friends are Making a Difference section.
Andrew: It's at Gledhow Valley in Leeds, and residents and walkers have had to put with the problem for the past six months.
Liz: Well, since we featured that story on this breakfast show there seems to have been some positive developments. Let's find out from local resident Martin Calvert… Morning Martin.
Martin: Good morning Liz.
Liz: Have we solved your problem?
Martin: I think you've helped towards it, definitely, yeah. It seems that the, erm, Environmental Health Officer, John Kenny for Leeds City Council has clearly grabbed the bull by the horns and he's engaging a contractor to do the work. And he's going to worry about who's going to pay for the work once the work's done.
Liz: That's excellent. What did he do? Did he call yesterday and tell you this?
Martin: He, he came down the woods and he spoke to one of our, our members. And he said he, he feels the same as us - it's a disgusting situation and he's going to resolve it, and worry about who to bill later on. I'm just a bit disappointed that Yorkshire Water have stayed completely quiet and, they're just hiding behind this, they're saying it's public, a private sewer when it patently isn't a private sewer… it's their sewer.
Liz: Good morning Yorkshire Water - your chance to answer this now, as yesterday! So when will this work be done, Martin?
Martin: Ah, he's hopefully… as soon as possible. He's just, erm, putting it out to tender and hopefully getting the job done. It's just like, really frustrating for us `coz the sewage is likely to come from the flats that overlook Gledhow Valley Woods. Those people all pay a hundred and eight pounds a year sewerage to Yorkshire Water and at the moment the sewage is ending up in our woods! So I don't think that's very good value for money, do you?
Liz: Alright, so your message to Yorkshire Water is?
Martin: Just, they've got a responsibility to maintain all the public sewers in the area whether they know about them or not, and I think it's about time they come forward and stopped hiding behind saying it's a private sewer.
Liz: And your message to Leeds Environmental Health, who've stepped in to help you?
Martin: It's brilliant. They've really taken over the bull by the horns and all congratulations to them. It's a bit late, but it really has done, doing the job… it's excellent.
Liz: Thank you. Martin Calvert. Hopefully the area he loves, Gledhow Valley, sewage free very shortly.
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If you come across any articles in newspapers or magazines which relate to the Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods, or to the woods in general, please contact us so we can add them to the site.
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