A car dealer has been fined £1,000 by York magistrates after selling a car so unroadworthy that it was potentially dangerous to who was driving, as well as pedestrians and other road users.
Junaid Ahmed Majeed and his company Dealonwheelz Ltd pleaded guilty to selling an unroadworthy Toyota Aygo to a Kirkbymoorside resident, and misleading a Thirsk resident about the service history, warranty and MOT history of a Vauxhall Corsa.
Majeed and the company also admitted telling both customers that the cars were ‘sold as seen’ to try to prevent them from asking for a refund or repair when things went wrong, and of failing to tell the Kirkbymoorside resident that she had a right to cancel her contract with the company.
York Magistrates heard that a consultant engineer who examined the Toyota found that it had been “repaired” in a totally inappropriate manner, with defects covered by filler and underbody sealant presenting a serious defect of the structure of the vehicle’s bodyshell.
The defect created the potential for the car to be badly damaged if it was involved in a collision, putting the occupants at greater risk.
The engineer’s report concluded: “I consider that the vehicle was in an unroadworthy condition, in that its use on a road would involve a danger of injury to any person within or other road users and pedestrians, due to the potential catastrophic failure of structural components.”
Majeed, of Hawke Avenue, Heckmondwike in West Yorkshire, and Dealzonwheels Ltd of Commercial Street in Leeds, each pleaded guilty to five offences under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
Majeed was ordered to pay fines totalling £500 and compensation of £2,000.
The company must pay fines totalling £500 and £200 towards prosecution costs.
Plans to transform Wakefield’s former market hall into a new events space have taken a major step forward.
Wakefield Exchange is welcoming applications from creative and digital business, and from independent food and drinks businesses in Wakefield and across the wider West Yorkshire area, to be part of the new venue, that is due to be launched this winter.
The launch will be part of Wakefield Council’s 366-day programme of cultural and creative activity, Our Year 2024.
Cllr Hannah Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “The Wakefield Exchange will offer residents a fantastic experience with an exciting programme of events and activities in a landmark venue.
“It will provide opportunities for creative and digital businesses and independent food and drinks businesses.
“We have listened to feedback from residents and we’re pleased that we’re now at this stage, as we look forward to launching the venue later this year.”
The Wakefield Exchange will provide new events space to attract visitors into the city centre on a permanent basis.
The venue will create jobs in the catering sector and there will also be business spaces on offer to small and medium digital and creative businesses, enabling Wakefield Exchange to play its part in the regeneration of the city centre.
The £7.7 million transformation, which is being supported by funding from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, will also provide skills training opportunities for local residents and workspace to attract new creative businesses into the city centre.
Leeds City Council has confirmed details of the positive and proactive steps it is taking to safeguard the future of key heritage assets on a landmark local street.
The council’s plans for a row of run-down properties towards the lower end of Kirkgate will, it is hoped, lead to their full restoration, refurbishment and reuse – but, crucially, should also facilitate the reopening of the currently-closed road.
A section of Kirkgate has been closed to traffic since one of the historic privately-owned buildings – number 85 – suffered a partial collapse in April this year.
The appearance of number 85 and its neighbours had already become a long-standing issue during a period when grants provided through the council’s Lower Kirkgate Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) scheme have driven a huge amount of regeneration activity elsewhere on the city centre street.
The council has been unable to formally agree terms with the owner of the dilapidated buildings – a company called City Fusion – for the award of THI grant support for improvement work on these properties.
Now, mindful of the negative impact that the current situation is having on the area, the council is intending to take two separate courses of action. These are:
The issuing of an urgent works notice – by the council in its capacity as the local planning authority for Leeds – in relation to the City Fusion properties on Kirkgate that are most at risk of collapse or further serious deterioration. The notice would give the council the right to carry out emergency structural work before recovering the cost of doing so from City Fusion. Once this work has taken place, then the traffic restrictions on Kirkgate would be lifted.
The proposed market-value acquisition by the council of seven City Fusion properties so they could, in the longer term, be restored and refurbished for uses that would maximise their potential as heritage assets and complement the other improvements on Kirkgate that have been made through the THI scheme.
Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council’s deputy leader and executive member for economy, transport and sustainable development, said: “Kirkgate has undergone a huge transformation over the last decade and we’re proud of the part we have played in making it a vibrant hub for independent businesses.
“We also recognise, however, that the poor condition of a number of local buildings – as well as the current road closure – is having a detrimental impact on the area and our ambitions for its comprehensive regeneration.
“It is our hope that, by stepping in and taking ownership of the situation, we will be able to facilitate the reopening of the road and, separately, give these problem properties a new lease of life.
“We thank businesses and residents for their patience and would like to assure them that the steps now being taken are a sign of our steadfast commitment to the ongoing success of Kirkgate.
“This is a street with real historical significance, and our efforts to ensure it has an equally bright future are the perfect illustration of the vital role that heritage plays in regeneration activity.”
The Lower Kirkgate THI scheme was launched in 2013 to drive heritage-led regeneration in the area, using funding from the council and the National Lottery Heritage Fund as well as leveraged private sector investment.
Subsequent improvement work has seen a number of properties restored, including the Grade II-listed First White Cloth Hall. The street has also been fundamentally redesigned, with the widening of footpaths and the planting of trees creating an attractive setting for businesses and other buildings.
The changes on Kirkgate complement substantial recent investments in public realm and highways infrastructure across an area known as the Corn Exchange Gateway, which includes roads such as Call Lane, Bridge End, Lower Briggate, New Market Street and Duncan Street.
City of York Council is sharing revised ideas for new public space in one of York’s most historic and important areas – and wants to hear from residents and businesses.
Updated concept designs from landscape architects BDP imagine how the Castle and Eye of York area could meet residents’ ambitions for the public space to replace Castle Car Park, as well as how it can become greener and more accessible.
In November 2023, the council’s Executive asked for the scheme to be reviewed to deliver flexible green space with children’s play provision, retain blue badge parking numbers, and reduce capital and management costs.
The ideas residents and businesses will be asked to feedback on include more planting and green spaces, improved pedestrian facilities, options for retained blue badge parking, and connections to the river with a riverside path and boardwalk to the rear of the Castle Museum which would link to the proposed new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the River Foss.
Image credit: City of York Council
An engagement period will run until 20 September 2024.
Councillor Katie Lomas, Executive Member for Finance, Performance, Major Projects, Human Rights, Equality and Inclusion at City of York Council, said: “The Castle Gateway plans have been shaped by a real desire to improve this important part of the city.
“Over recent years the council has been listening to a range of ideas which have shaped an open brief and masterplan for the area to create a place where all our residents want to spend time and enjoy.
“We want to get on with delivering these improvements. The key changes that we are asking for views on respond to our core commitments as a council to equalities and climate as well as the recently approved ‘Our City Centre’ vision’.
“Also, following unsuccessful levelling up funding bids in previous years, we need to adapt the scheme to make it affordable and deliverable for the city, all while achieving the improvements to the area that people are demanding of us.
“Your thoughts and feedback are vital in helping shape the scheme design before a revised planning application is submitted, so please take a look at the updated concept designs and have your say.”
The scheme will now be brought forward in phases due to the funding available, focusing on the Castle Car Park and the boardwalk in the first phase. However, the original planning application, which was submitted in February 2022, will be revised so that a comprehensive scheme is developed for the whole area, which can then be implemented when funding becomes available.
The feedback gathered will allow detailed proposals to be developed, with a revised planning application expected to be submitted in early 2025.
York-basedAbingdon Health, a lateral flow contract research (CRO) and contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), has completed the acquisition of the CS Lifesciences group (Compliance Solutions).
The business announced the £3.2 million deal earlier this year, as well as a placing to raise £5.2 million.
Compliance Solutions is a consultancy business which specialises in meeting compliance (Quality/ Regulatory/ Clinical) requirements in international In Vitro Diagnostic and medical device markets.
The news follows Abingdon Health’s acquisition of IVDeology.
Chris Yates, CEO, Abingdon Health, said: “We are delighted to welcome Edwin Lindsay and all the Compliance Solutions team to the Abingdon Health group.
“The acquisition of Compliance Solutions deepens and broadens Abingdon’s regulatory service offering allowing us to fully support our customers in bringing their products from idea to commercial success.”
Edwin Lindsay, Managing Director of Compliance Solutions, said: “We are delighted to join the Abingdon group and we look forward to working with the Abingdon team to support our growing customer base across the In Vitro Diagnostic and Medical Device Market.
“The regulatory landscape is going through a period of significant change and the enlarged group is well placed to support customers in navigating this complexity to achieve and maintain successful product registrations.”
Acting on behalf of parcel distribution business, EVRi, Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has acquired two new sites to support the ongoing expansion of the firm’s logistics network.
EVRi has taken a 10-year lease on 132,977 sq ft at Newhall 130 in Sheffield. The scheme is strategically situated near Junction 34 of the M1 Motorway and on the fringes of Sheffield City Centre, and was recently developed speculatively by Newsholme Developments, on behalf of Urban Logistics REIT.
EVRi has also taken a further 113,573 sq ft of space on a 10-year lease at Central Approach, Avonmouth. This self-contained unit was speculatively built by Trebor Developments and sits within a well-established distribution park.
James Polson, head of industrial & logistics at LSH, said: “These two sites are strategic acquisitions which further strengthen EVRi’s logistics network and capabilities.
“Sourcing these deals was a collective effort across LSH’s national office network and our expanded regional knowledge has delivered the optimal outcome for our client.”
Regional law firm Andrew Jackson Solicitors LLP has advised the shareholders of HS Butyl Ltd, the manufacturer and distributor of butyl tapes, on their disposal to NYSE-listed H.B. Fuller, the pureplay adhesives company.
Family owned and founded since 1964, HS Butyl has been designing, engineering and manufacturing butyl tapes for a variety of applications within the construction, infrastructure, automotive and renewable energy industries. It has become a globally recognised business, exporting to more than 50 countries from its site in Hampshire.
The transaction will assist the $3bn-turnover H. B. Fuller accelerate its expansion into the $15bn global waterproofing tape market, which includes butyl tape technologies.
HS Butyl had been owned by East Yorkshire-based Hodgson Sealants Group since 2007, growing its annual sales to £18m.
The group will continue to focus on the Hodgson Sealants business.
A team of Yorkshire advisers assisted the shareholders of HS Butyl, including Andrew Jackson Solicitors LLP (Matthew Smith and Nicole Waldron), Park Place (Richard Firth and Hector Simpson), and Brown Butler (James White and Craig Hughes).
Philip Ashworth, corporate partner of Andrew Jackson, said: “Having acted for the Hodgson family since the 1980s including the acquisition of HS Butyl in 2007, it is a delight that Matthew, Nicole and team, together with colleagues at Park Place and Brown Butler, have assisted on the family’s exit from the business after 17 years.”
Amazon has launched a new, state-of-the-art fulfilment centre at Gateway45, Leeds.
The Amazon Robotics fulfilment centre will employ more than 2,000 people by November this year.
This latest generation fulfilment centre utilises advanced technology across three floors of Amazon Robotics to stow, pick and ship customer orders.
The building is located in close proximity to an Amazon delivery station and an Amazon Robotics sortation centre, and less than ten miles from the Wakefield fulfilment centre which started operations in October 2022.
James Mason, West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, said: “This further, significant investment from Amazon is a confirmation of our strategic location for the logistics industry as a whole, and a ringing endorsement for the strength and skillset of the workforce in our region.
“We at the Chamber welcome the job creation, a significant boost for the region’s economy.”
Richard Thompson, Amazon’s Regional Director, said: “West Yorkshire is an important region for Amazon, with more than 3,800 small- and medium-sized enterprise selling partners, and I am delighted to confirm our ongoing commitment with this £500 million investment in a new, state-of-the-art fulfilment centre in Leeds.
“This new site will create more than 2,000 new jobs, taking our total workforce in the region to more than 4,000 full and part-time roles, and our investment in the region to more than £1.5 billion since 2010.
“Amazon continues to invest in our buildings and innovative technology to provide our people with some of the most advanced workplaces of their kind in the world, ensuring their wellbeing while delivering for our customers.”
Mandy Ridyard, Business Advisor to the Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “Amazon’s multi-million pound investment in Leeds is a fantastic vote of confidence in our region and supports our ambition to drive economic growth.
“I’m delighted that thousands more new jobs will be created for people throughout our communities, as we work to build a stronger, brighter West Yorkshire that works for all.”
Landowning partnership Howard Farms has completed the sale of the first two phases of Mulberry Logistics Park in South Yorkshire.
With the site located on the border of Doncaster and the Bassetlaw district, Mulberry Logistics Park gives businesses direct access to the trunk road network leading to Doncaster, Sheffield and Nottingham.
Founded in 1888, Howard Farms is a Nottinghamshire-based rural family business, providing food and renewable energy across its various sites. The sale of the first two phases of the site to Mulberry Commercial Developments marks the multi-disciplinary developer’s expansion in South Yorkshire.
Law firm Browne Jacobson advised Howard Farms on the initial conditional option agreements and sale of the first two phases of Mulberry Logistics Park’s developments – beginning in January 2021 and finalising in July 2024.
The Browne Jacobson team comprised of real estate partner Robert Wofinden and associate Sam Trevorrow.
East Midlands-based land development consultancy Mather Jamie acted as the appointed land agent for the sale. Both Browne Jacobson and Mather Jamie will continue to support Howard Farms throughout the third and final remaining phase of development.
Robert Wofinden, partner at Browne Jacobson, said: “This has been a fantastic piece of work for the firm, and we’re pleased to have supported a farming partnership like Howard Farms which makes a truly positive impact with their work in the food production and green energy sectors.”
Andy Howard, company owner of Howard and Co. Farming Ltd., said: “We’d like to express our thanks to Rob and Sam from Browne Jacobson for their support and Gary Owens from Mather Jamie – this has been a landmark transaction for us, and they’ve worked hard to ensure a smooth and efficient process over the last few years.”
Market leaders in the manufacture of gaskets since 1989, Hull-based Direct Gaskets celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2024. The business is headed by a mother and daughter team, with the factory manager and production team also family.
“Having been established for 35 years, we play an important role in Hull’s manufacturing sector,” a spokesperson for Direct Gaskets shared. “Whilst doing this we have also built up a strong reputation for supplying high quality products at very competitive prices and an unbeatable service. No matter if your gasket needs are a one off, or on-going – we can help.”
Direct Gaskets’ highly trained workforce has the experience to always manufacture high quality gaskets and joints in semi and non-metallic materials. The business also offers an outstanding turn-around time as well as call-out service, no matter the quantity of the order.
All of Direct Gaskets’ materials are sold in sheet form, or they can make bespoke gaskets cut from any desired material to your specifications.
Direct Gaskets make standard tables such as ASA 150, British Standard Table ‘E’ and PN6/10/16/25 & 40, ranging from 1⁄2” to 32” for use within all types of pipe works which can be made from various materials to seal all types of liquids, gasses and chemicals.
For more information on Direct Gaskets as it marks 35 years, visit https://direct-gaskets.co.uk/, email info@direct-gaskets.co.uk, or call 01482 219 655
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