Calderdale Labour Party
Labour for Calderdale.
Our place. Fairer. Stronger and kinder communities.
Calderdale is a great place to live, full of real community spirit. We know that people look out for one another, take pride in where they live, and work together to make their neighbourhoods better. We saw this during the floods, when the pandemic hit, we see it each and every day all across the borough.
But over time that spirit has been tested. Years of cuts placed huge pressure on local councils, making it harder to protect our public services. Despite this, the council under Labour administration continued to step up for our residents. We focussed on making your money go further, on keeping your family safe, creating opportunities for work and leisure as well as creating a decent place where our children can thrive.
We delivered big time. We pulled in millions of pounds of investment from the central government and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. We worked with our local charities, community groups and volunteers to make every single pound go further. £7 out of every £10 went on caring for our vulnerable – your relative with dementia, the child next door with autism. We’re proud that we did all that and still made the budget balance year on year – it wasn’t easy.
We’re proud of what we achieved but we’re ambitious for more. Our commitment in opposition is to hold the new administration to account, to ensure that we continue to have decent, caring communities with great public services that work for everyone.
We believe Calderdale is at its best when inequality is reduced, opportunity is shared and people come together to shape a better future. While others blame and divide we focus on building a future where we work together, putting social and climate justice first, always.
We want to see thriving high streets, good jobs and successful local businesses that help create confident, caring communities where people want to live, work, and invest.
What Labour has delivered
- University Business School at Piece Mill, Halifax, building on Calderdale’s entrepreneurial independent spirit
- Brought in hundreds of millions of pounds for regeneration across Calderdale, beginning the revival of our town centres in Halifax, Brighouse, Elland, Todmorden and Sowerby Bridge
- Re-launched the thriving Piece Hall alongside a brand-new Halifax Library
- Transformed Halifax Borough Market, with over £4.5 million invested since 2017, built a great new market in Brighouse, invested in a new Elland Market and Todmorden Indoor Market and relocated and developed the markets in Hebden Bridge
- We have put Calderdale on the world stage, attracting major film and TV productions including Marvel, Gentleman Jack and Riot Women, and creating a strong tourist sector, with 5,791 tourism-related jobs in 2024, bringing £659 million! into the local economy
- Invested in North Halifax, with the new Mixenden Community Hub and the welcome reopening of Mixenden Activity Centre, keeping services local
- Treasured our heritage, by bringing buildings back to life, like the Victoria Theatre, Todmorden and Beechwood libraries, and the wonderful bandstands at the People’s Park and Todmorden – now open for thousands to enjoy.
- Brought a tough new approach to fly-tipping, with specialist teams, hidden cameras, drones, vehicle seizures and heavy fines and sentences.
- Invested in Culturedale 2024 – celebrating a year of culture throughout the borough for communities across the borough.
- Made the brand-new Halifax swimming pool and leisure centre a reality at last with spades in the ground.
- Cracked down on anti-social behaviour, fining troublemakers and keeping our public spaces safe with strict new protection orders.
- Kept Calderdale streets cleaner by hunting down fly-tippers and crushed their vehicles.
- Grew our local community arts and cultural events, with a hugely successful Culturedale year.
- Created vibrant town centre events, bringing people into our markets and shops
A decent society is one where we do everything we can to help people through hard times. Labour in Calderdale has worked to tackle poverty and support those who are struggling to get back on their feet.
We get it. We aim to help families cope with the cost-of-living crisis, making money go further. To do that, we had to ensure that Calderdale had a cast iron budget, with stronger reserves to manage the climate and economic shocks that seem to happen so often these days and affect us all.
What Labour has delivered
- We achieved the best take-up rate in the whole of England for the Healthy Holidays programme, providing free hot meals and activities for children – they shouldn’t go hungry because school is closed.
- Got money into people’s pockets – our Early Advice and Support Team turned residents’ lives around, getting them benefits and essential support with food and fuel costs.
- Gave free help with budgeting and debt via our amazing 130 trained Money Guiders, putting real help into people’s hands.
- Helped to end carpet poverty, with the ‘Carpets like a Boss’ scheme giving 340 families warm floors at cost price – no more toddlers crawling on cold concrete.
- Built a strong anti-poverty consortium that brings every local partner together to ensure support is properly targeted and delivered.
- Opened warm hubs, with free hot drinks, dignity, support and help to reduce electric bills.
- Tackled the digital divide using libraries to help struggling residents to get online and provided laptops to children from low-income families to keep them learning during the pandemic.
- Our Healthy Homes grants helped 340 families cut heating bills by an average of £600 a year.
- Implemented the Labour government’s breakfast club offer in schools and expanded free school meal entitlement.
Every child in Calderdale deserves safety, opportunity and hope. Labour will always stand up for children, families and young people. We are proud that we put kids first in Calderdale.
What Labour delivered
- Secured over £150 million to rebuild eleven schools with the first at Castle Hill well underway.
- Brought a new “outstanding” sixth form college to central Halifax.
- Rose standards, with 91% of our primary schools rated good or outstanding.
- Made major investments in SEND, with £20 million for a new specialist school and 13 SEN hubs in mainstream schools meaning local kids no longer have to travel.
- Helped more children into, loving, new homes by recruiting more foster carers.
- Implemented a council tax relief scheme for young people leaving council care and foster carers.
- Set up 13 Family Hubs across the borough, supporting children and parents.
- Made many of our streets safer for children through 20mph limits in residential areas.
- Drove up standards in children’s services, with all areas rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, and all council-run children’s homes rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.
Climate change is real and action cannot wait. Labour is committed to protecting Calderdale for future generations – and saving us all money in the process.
Thanks to Labour action, Calderdale Council is regarded as a national leader on nature and environment.
What Labour delivered
- Secured over £190 million for vital flood defence schemes since 2015.
- Slashed costs with LED street lighting, saving energy and £5 million each year.
- Made a third of council vehicles fully electric to save vital funds, whilst rolling out chargers across the borough.
- Made active travel choices easier for all with wider pavements, liveable neighbourhoods and improved accessibility.
- Brought in 10s of millions of external investment to install renewables in major council buildings, saving vital money for services.
- Set up a Healthy Homes Service for families offering grants and interest-free loans.
- Piloted a full street retrofit pilot in Boothtown, targeting cold terraced homes.
- Brought in millions for Natural Flood management to help protect nature & provide flood resilience for our communities.
- Planted over 17,500 trees in 2025 and restored swathes of moorland every month to store carbon, restore nature and reduce flooding.
- Put our residents at the heart of decision making through citizens juries and active engagement – winning national acclaim.
- Vastly improved air quality in key hotspot areas across Calderdale.
- Signed the regions first MOU agreement with Yorkshire Water, to clean up our waterways and invest in our aging sewer network.
- Achieved one of the highest recycling rates in the country and led on food recycling in Yorkshire.
Good transport links connect people to jobs, education and services, and help our communities thrive. It must be easier for everyone to get around in a way that is affordable.
What Labour delivered
- Took the decision to end bus privatisation by 2027 – bringing buses back into public hands.
- A warm and eco-friendly, new Halifax Bus Station.
- Expanded railway parking at Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd stations.
- Secured cycle parking for residents lacking storage space.
- Made school streets safer at drop-off and pick-up times, protecting children.
- Completed the complex A629 works at Salterhebble, cutting congestion on a major route into Halifax.
- Protected key rural bus services in the face of cuts.
- Brought back the 590 through the Upper Valley and Walsden against the stiff opposition of First Bus and pushing for better services in the Upper Valley.
- Secured the funding to get Elland station and its access package up and running.
Looking after those who need support most is one of Labour’s most important responsibilities. We are committed to helping local residents who need care or support to stay connected, build on their strengths and live their lives to the full.
What Labour delivered
- Good ratings for Adult Social Care from the Care Quality Commission.
- Reopened and redeveloped Mytholm Meadows in Hebden Bridge.
- Massively improved home adaptation support to help people live independently.
- Brought advice and support nearer to where people where they live with Better Lives Hubs’.
- Worked hard to shape services with people who use them and their carers.