Calderdale Labour marked Earth Day 2026 with a roundup of their achievements so far on tackling climate change and further plans.
Calderdale Council under local Labour is committed to protecting Calderdale for future generations — and to saving residents money in the process.
Under Labour, Calderdale Council is recognised as a national leader on climate, nature and the environment. We have shown that environmental ambition and practical action go hand in hand: cutting emissions, protecting communities from flooding, improving air quality, restoring nature and helping create warmer, healthier homes.
What Labour has delivered in Calderdale:
- Secured over £190 million for vital flood defence schemes since 2015
- Reduced energy use and saved around £5 million a year through LED street lighting
- Made around a third of council vehicles fully electric, while rolling out EV charging across the borough
- Supported more active travel through wider pavements, liveable neighbourhoods and improved accessibility on roads, canals and greenways
- We’ve brought in tens of millions of pounds of external investment to install renewables in major council buildings, cutting carbon and saving money for frontline services
- Set up a Healthy Homes Service to help families access grants and interest-free loans
- Piloted a whole-street retrofit scheme in Boothtown, targeting cold terraced homes
- Secured millions for natural flood management, helping protect communities while restoring nature including new wetlands and nature reserves in Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge
- We’ve planted over 17,500 trees in the last year alone and restored large areas of moorland to store carbon, reduce flooding and support biodiversity — while also cracking the code to replace sphagnum moss
- We’ve put residents at the heart of decision-making through innovative “citizens’ juries” and community engagement, winning national recognition
- We gave improved air quality in key hotspot areas across Calderdale
- We have signed the region’s first Memorandum of Understanding with Yorkshire Water to help clean up waterways and invest in ageing sewer infrastructure
- And have one of the highest recycling rates in the country and led the way on food recycling in Yorkshire.
Our commitments to you going forward:
- Help more homeowners and tenants create warmer homes with lower energy bills
- Secure Calderdale’s fair share of flood protection funding by working with central government
- Support community groups to take climate action, including home heating projects and community energy generation
- Clean up the remaining air pollution hotspots and work towards a borough-wide clean air guarantee by 2030
- Roll out more home retrofit programmes in disadvantaged areas, cutting bills and carbon emissions
- Prioritise brownfield land for new housing, supporting growth while protecting green spaces
- Keep putting nature first by holding Yorkshire Water to account, cleaning up rivers, planting at least 15,000 trees every year, and replacing tree losses at a rate of at least two for one
This Earth Day, Calderdale can be proud of what Labour has achieved. We are proving that climate leadership means practical leadership: protecting people from flooding, lowering bills, improving public health, restoring nature and building a cleaner, greener borough for the future.
Under Labour locally, Calderdale is leading the way — and we are only just getting started!