Hebden Bridge News

Fresh Start At Calderdale Council

An agreement between the Liberal Democrat and Labour groups has been reached that will see them taking over the leadership of Calderdale Council in a joint administration at the Annual Meeting of the Council on Monday (24th May).

This follows the local elections that saw both the Liberal Democrats and the Labour groups increase their numbers by two, whilst the Conservatives lost ground, recording their worst result in Calderdale for over 13 years.

Cllr Janet Battye (Liberal Democrat, Calder) will become Leader of the Council and Cllr Tim Swift (Labour, Town) will become Deputy Leader. Both expressed their commitment to working together to promote a new way of running the Council that will involve more councillors, be more open to the wider community, and establish a new and more positive direction for the Council.

Cllr Battye said: “Following the elections I have spoken to the leaders of all the other groups, but it became clear that the Conservatives were not willing to change the way the Council is run. We and the Labour group are agreed that significant changes need to be made if the Council is to provide the leadership that Calderdale needs. We hope that all Councillors from whatever political group will take advantage of the increased opportunities for them to be involved in running Calderdale Council for the benefit of local people”

Cllr Tim Swift said: “The local Council elections gave a clear message that people want to see change in the way Calderdale Council operates. If the Council is to regain the trust and confidence of local people, we need to demonstrate that it is possible to run the Council in a way that is open, treats people fairly, and delivers on the services people need”.

Among the priorities of the new administration are:

• A more open and inclusive style of council decision-making;
• A commitment to making sure that basic services such as street cleaning, are delivered to a high quality
• A new drive to work with partners to secure jobs and training for local people;
• Making sure that when the Council promises major schemes, they really do happen;
• A pledge to continue to modernise services, to improve value for money and keep the Council tax low.

This arrangement is subject to confirmation at next week’s Annual Meeting of the Council.

The Council’s Cabinet will be made up of the following councillors:

• Cllr Janet Battye (LD) – Leader of the Council
• Cllr Tim Swift (Lab) – Deputy Leader of the Council
• Cllr Peter Wardhaugh (LD) – Performance and Resources
• Cllr Barry Collins (Lab) – Economy & Environment
• Cllr Olwen Jennings (LD) – Children and Young People
• Cllr Bob Metcalfe (Lab) – Adults, Health & Social Care
• Cllr David O’Neill (LD) – Safer and Stronger Communities.