Last month we held Leeds’ first Arts Ageing and Activism Symposium at Imagine Leeds – a space for connection, gathering resources and creating action towards a zero carbon, nature friendly, socially just Leeds.
An immediate action we agreed was to write a collective letter in support of the BusFair campaign. At present West Yorkshire receives only the basic mandatory deal on the concessionary fares for older and disabled people. This means that their free bus passes can’t be used before 9.30am on weekdays. This affects older people with early morning hospital appointments, or who have child care duties, or who wish to travel for volunteering, as many do. It affects disabled people who may need to travel regularly in the morning to hold down a job. Many parts of the country get a better deal and so we have written to West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin, asking for the pre-9.30 am charging to be eliminated in Leeds and West Yorkshire.
We have also contributed to the consultation on whether or not to introduce the Proposed Franchising Scheme in March 2024. Should the Mayor make the decision to introduce franchising then buses in the region would be under the control of the Combined Authority. That means that the Combined Authority would set the routes, frequency, fares and overall standards of buses in our region.
We have completed an evaluation of the event compiling notes on all the discussions and next steps requested by attendees with key partners including Lees Older People’s Forum and Age Friendly Leeds and will continue to develop our work based on our learning from the event.
One of the the most consistent requests from the event was wanted to know more about what creative ageing activities are on offer in Leeds and who may be interested in supporting or in need of support for Arts, Ageing and Activism initiatives. With this in mind we have produced a short booklet with interested attendees, recognising the 47 organisations involved in the Symposium including detailed profiles, offers and asks, alongside pictures from the event by photographer, Mike Pinches.
