Diary
(Read the background story of how we developed the Town Hall project! - unedited)
Posted Aug 21
The project team met last night, and we spent quite a lot of time talking about arrangements for Thurs Oct 8th. This, you'll recall, is the date we've chosen for our first AGM. All members of HB Community Association (ie, all Friends of the Town Hall over 18) will be getting invitations shortly.
We want this to be much more than just a formal AGM, however. We want it to be a real opportunity for those of us who've been involved in the project up to now to share what we've been doing, and - even more important - for the wider Hebden Bridge community to get stuck in and contribute ideas and suggestions for how the Town Hall can be properly developed as the heart of our town's life.
We are planning therefore an 'open doors' in the Town Hall late afternoon and early evening. Ideally, too, we hope to arrange events for schools during the day. Our plans are currently being developed, and we'll let you know shortly the exact arrangements. (Keep the date free!)
Posted Aug 20
We will be interviewing the three shortlisted architectural practices on Weds Sep 2nd. All three have made good initial submissions, and we're looking forward to meeting them and discussing with them what they could bring to our project.
Posted Aug 20
We're delighted to have been offered a grant of £2000 from the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation, towards the costs of refurbishing and equipping the Waterfront Hall we hope to open in the currently empty offices at the rear of the building. Thank you to them. This is the first of what we hope will be several other grants.
Posted Aug 17
We had originally planned to interview and select the architects for the project today, but our plans have fallen foul of the holiday season. (Aug is not a good time for any sort of selection process). The selection is now put back to early Sep. More info soon.
Posted Aug 17
We are pleased to report that the facility to become a Friend of the Town Hall online is now working again. You can sign up here or download details and an application form to enrol by post.
Posted Aug 3
Frank Woolrych, the president of Hebden Bridge Local History Society, has sent us this interesting photo, dating back to around 1908, which shows the Town Hall as it was shortly after the building was completed. The stonework above the garage door reads Fire and Ambulance Offices.
Posted Aug 3
We are looking for a volunteer who is free on Monday morning, Aug 17th, to help us (in a meet-and-greet role) with meetings we have with prospective architects. If you can help, please let Sue Fenton know on 844906.
Posted Aug 3
We seem to have a problem with PayPal with our on-line enrolment facility, which means that it is temporarily down. Despite lots of efforts on our behalf, PayPal seem unable to process the information we've sent them. We hope to have this sorted out as quickly as possible. In the meantime, please sign up as a Friend by post - the form is available here.
Posted Aug 2
Thanks to the volunteers who staffed the stall yesterday at the Vintage Car rally in the town's Calder Holmes Park. Thanks, too, to all the people who took the opportunity to join as Friends of the Town Hall. We hope you enjoy many a cuppa in your new Town Hall mug!
Posted July 21
There's a thoughtful article about asset transfer in the latest edition of the voluntary sector magazine Third Sector, which includes a short account of what we're doing in Hebden Bridge (together with a rather fine photo of the Town Hall!). It is available for reading online at the Third Sector website (you will need to register to read it, but registration is free and involves no commitment).
Posted July 16
We have been interviewed for a forthcoming article on asset transfer for the voluntary sector magazine Third Sector. It will be appearing in next week's issue. We'll try to put a link in to their website when it appears.
Posted July 16
We are grateful to HB Rotary Club for allowing us to run a stall at the annual Classic Car Show in Calder Holmes Park, on Sunday August 2nd. We'll be there to sign up new Friends of the Town Hall. If you're able to help out for an hour or two on the stall, please let Sue Fenton know. Sue's phone number is HB 844906. Or send an email to our usual email address: hebdenbridgetownhall@gmail.com
Posted July 10
We have had a request from local film-maker Nick Wilding to change the date of our AGM from October 15th, since this is the evening he will be running a major event at the HB Picture House. We have agreed to bring the AGM forward to Thursday October 8th. All Friends of the Town Hall will be notified formally in due course.
We have had approaches from a number of people interested in standing as trustees. Please consider whether you are also able to put yourself forward in this way.
We have pledged to be as open as possible with information about the project, and have decided to make the minutes of the project team meetings available here on the website. Minutes will be put up once they have been approved at the following meeting. You'll find the minutes for our 25 June meeting now available.
Posted July 6
Our first members' newsletter seems to have been well received. Thank you to those people who have been in touch, either offering help as volunteers and/or signing the Gift Aid declaration.
Posted July 6
Copies of our submission to Calderdale (setting out exactly what we are planning) are now in HB library, HB Tourist Infor Centre and in the Town Hall itself. A copy is also on its way to the rural mobile library. Or you can simply read or download it here, on this website.
Posted July 3
Whoops. We gave you yesterday a quote from You Tube which we also gave you back on June 8th. (The notification from You Tube had come back to the top of the email box without us noticing). Just to demonstrate that there are real humans behind this project, who occasionally make mistakes...
Posted July 2
Catherine Groves reports a warm welcome from the four schools where she and Robin Dixon have been leading assemblies this week about the Town Hall project (see June 29). (Thank you for the three cheers, Old Town!). Stubbings school tomorrow.
And more welcome feedback, this time on You Tube, where someone watching our video has posted this comment: "Good luck on your bid to bring the town hall back into community use, it is such a shame to see these fantastic buildings becoming dis-used, they are left to rot until the only option is demolition. I hope that the community and decision makers come together to make it the great success that it can be."
Posted July 1
The long-awaited announcement about the Communitybuilders Fund (see July 23rd, and several other entries below) came on Monday. As we had already gathered, the fund is to be administered by a consortium led by the Adventure Capital Fund. More information from the Development Trust Association and from the Department for Communities & Local Government.
The fund is designed for organisations which have the following features:
- community control by local residents and/or representatives of local groups
- addressing a wide range of the neighbourhood's needs in a holistic way
- include all sections of their community
- empowers people by facilitating and supporting community development and enterprise in their area
Yes, we feel we tick all four boxes pretty well. But the Fund is part grant funding, part loan funding, so if we use Communitybuilders we will have to ensure that our business plan is strong enough to service the borrowing element. More work, in other words, before we're ready to apply.
Posted July 1
We understand that the HB Light Opera society is approaching Calderdale to ask to acquire the downstairs hall at the rear of the Town Hall for their use. This obviously conflicts with our own proposal, which puts forward a proposal for the building as a whole. It means that Calderdale will have to judge the two proposals, using the criteria they have established for assessing asset transfer requests.
We need to add that we have already promised the society that, if in the future the building is managed by us, their existing use of the rehearsal room upstairs will continue on exactly the same terms as at present. You can see our entry on April 6th for the background to this. We would hope to be able to develop a good relationship with the Light Opera society and the Calder Valley Youth Theatre who also use the rehearsal room.
Posted June 29
The cash desk in the Town Hall was closed by Calderdale last Friday. We're sorry to see this service disappear from the building. We hope that, before too long, we'll be able to get this facility- and other new services from Calderdale - back in the Town Hall where they belong.
Posted June 29
A big thank you to Hebden Royd's deputy mayor Cllr Robin Dixon and to Cllr Catherine Groves for taking the message about HB Town Hall to children in our community. Robin and Catherine are doing special assemblies this week at Old Town, Central St, Riverside and Hebden Royd schools.
Posted June 26
As you'll know if you read our diary, we submitted our formal request to Calderdale for transfer of the Town Hall into community ownership earlier this month. It's our policy to make key documents like this publicly available for all who are interested. We have now produced a PDF version (minus the photos, to keep the file size reasonable, and also slightly updated), and you can find it on this website by following the link above. We hope soon to have a reference copy in the HB Library.
Posted June 26
The project team last night decided among other things on a date for the first AGM of Hebden Bridge Community Association. It will be on Thurs Oct 15th at 7.30pm in the Town Hall. This will be the opportunity for all Friends of the Town Hall (and would-be Friends too!) to come along, to find out exactly what the plans are for this landmark building. We hope by then we may have appointed an architect to work with us.
At the AGM we'll also be electing our first on-going management board of trustees. We hope that lots of people will consider standing as trustees. We need a strong and representative board to carry us forward into the next phase of the project.
Posted June 23
Last Friday was the deadline for architects to contact us if they were interested in being short-listed for working with us on the project. A number have responded, and we will shortly start the detailed work of looking through their applications and doing the short-listing. More details soon.
Posted June 23
Sorry, sorry, a fortnight gone since the last diary posting here. It's not that nothing has happened...
On June 9th, we formally presented Calderdale with a very detailed submission, setting out why we believe that the future of HB Town Hall can best be safeguarded through an asset transfer into community control, using the charitable trust we have established. (This is what we were referring to on May 28th entry). The submission includes a lot of background about the proposals, and also our vision for the future of the building. We now wait for Calderdale to assess our application, using the evaluation framework they have recently approved.
We are awaiting the imminent launch of the Communitybuilders fund, a £70m government pot which will be available to community anchor trusts (part grant finance, part loan). Yes, this is what was announced back in July last year (!). We've been working since then on the business plan we will need in order to make a really strong application.
In partnership with Calderdale, we have also indicated our interest in bidding for European Regional Development Fund grant-finance, for the business enterprise element of our proposals. We have a first meeting to discuss this later this week.
Posted June 8
A nice message comes up on YouTube from someone who's viewed our film: "Good luck on your bid to bring the town hall back into community use, it is such a shame to see these fantastic buildings becoming dis-used, they are left to rot until the only option is demolition. I hope that the community and decision makers come together to make it the great success that it can be." Thanks for your support!
Posted June 5
We're pleased to have a prominent news story in today's Hebden Bridge Times - although the HBT is just slightly behind the times. We now have 400 Friends of the Town Hall signed up (33% more than the HBT credits us with!). Thank you to everyone who has already joined. We are hoping very shortly to be able to contact you all with an update.
Posted May 28
We have started today the process of selecting the architectural practice who will be working with us on the plans for the new-build element to our proposals, particularly the proposed Hebden Bridge Creative Quarter enterprise centre. The next stage will be to shortlist and interview potential architectural practices.
This may be the point to direct you to our policy briefing note which sets out our approach to the architecture. The whole statement is available on this website, but here's a couple of extracts: "We want any new buildings created on the Town Hall site to reflect the importance of the site within our community, and to be in themselves landmark buildings. We want high-quality architecture which will stand the test of time. We are putting in place public buildings which we expect to serve the community for the whole of the remainder of the 21 st century. We also want buildings to be as ‘green' as possible. We are looking for a design which will maximise energy efficiency and which will be environmentally sustainable (including in the materials selected and used)."
You'll see that we also make this commitment: "We want to engage the Hebden Bridge community in the development of these new civic buildings to the fullest extent possible."
Posted May 28
We met today in Halifax's Northgate House with officers from Calderdale and with the ever-helpful Neil and Annemarie from the Development Trust Association. Jill from our friends in the Luddendenfoot Civic Institute group was also there. This was the wrap-up meeting at the end of the year's demonstration programme on asset transfer in which Calderdale has been working with the DTA. (You may remember we announced Calderdale's participation back on July 11th last year - HB Town Hall has been one of the two pilot projects in the scheme, Luddendenfoot being the other). We discussed how things have moved on in the past twelve months, the most significant being Calderdale's adoption of its framework strategy for community asset use and management, agreed on April 7th this year. Calderdale's officers accepted that the next stage is for the council to put in place the procedures for dealing with actual transfer requests from community groups. We are currently working on a detailed submission, which we hope to present to the council shortly.
Posted May 28
We're delighted that the film about our campaign in Hebden Bridge (see it on YouTube) is now promoted in pride of place on the new Asset Transfer Unit website, giving welcome national publicity to what we're trying to achieve. The Asset Transfer Unit is a new agency, funded by the Dept for Communities and Local Government, and run by the Development Trusts Association.
Talking of the film, Nick and Gabriel Wilding have now done us an excellent 'lite' version, running in at just 3 minutes, which we hope to show shortly at the HB Picture House. This will also be posted asap on YouTube, so watch this space.
Posted May 26
You can now enrol as a Friend of the Town Hall, and a member of HB Community Association, online, just by clicking here. Payment is made either by PayPal or by credit/debit card (no card fees). Our thanks to Chris Ratcliffe of the Hebden Bridge community web for helping us sort this out.
Posted May 25
Over forty new Friends of the Town Hall signed up on Saturday, at the stall we ran as part of the Hebden Bridge Big Green Weekend - an excellent event, with a really good atmosphere. Thanks to you all. This takes the total number of Friends now to over 350 - exactly how many we won't know until we've brought in the enrolment forms from the shops. Talking of which, if you haven't yet signed up and would like to, please note that the thirteen local shops will continue to have the enrolment forms and mugs only until the end of the month.
Posted May 6
The Department for Communities and Local Government has today put out a press release on asset transfer of buildings. "Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has today unveiled a series of measures to back a people's revolution to recycle buildings by putting real power in the hands of locals to support communities," the press release says.
Posted Apr 30
Janet and Andrew from the Town Hall project team met today with Jeanette Culleton and Julie Lord from legal publishers Sweet and Maxwell in Mytholmroyd (part of the Thomson Reuter group), to explain the background to what we're doing. We're grateful for their interest.
Posted Apr 29
We've issued a press release about the £15,000 business development grant of £15,000. This includes the following:
Community-led plans to secure the long-term future of Hebden Bridge Town Hall received a welcome fillip today with news of the award of a £15,000 grant for feasibility work.
The grant, from the charity Adventure Capital Fund, will enable detailed architectural and survey work to be undertaken to plan the future development of the landmark building. The grant will also fund a full appraisal of the possibilities for making the Town Hall as sustainable and energy efficient as possible. One option to be researched will be the possibility of providing some of the energy needs for the building from a new micro-hydroelectric turbine powered by the river Hebden.
The grant is made to Hebden Bridge Community Association, the new charitable trust which has been established to develop plans for community control of the Town Hall buildings. The Association launched its Friends of the Town Hall scheme earlier this month, and has already attracted about three hundred supporters and members.
Andrew Bibby, one of the Association's project team, said: “We are delighted to have received this grant, which will take us another step forward in our campaign to secure the Town Hall's future as a centre of community life. Only about forty such grants have been awarded and we were up against some strong applications from all over the country, so the grant is also welcome external recognition of the strength of our proposals.”
Full text of the press release available here.
Posted Apr 27
We are delighted to hear in today's post that we have been awarded a business development grant of £15,000 from Adventure Capital Fund, to enable us to complete our feasibility work. More news about this very soon.
Posted Apr 26
We reckon we're now well past 250 Friends of the Town Hall, and are probably approaching 300. (Thank you to the person who said to one of us today that their Town Hall mug had pride of place in their kitchen!)
Posted Apr 24
Thank you to the Book Case in Market St, who have enrolled well over twenty Friends. We've supplied them at their request with a new enrolment pack.
Posted Apr 23
We are delighted to report that Oliver Moor, the Calderdale officer who has been working closely with us for well over a year, is to be given one of the Development Trust Association's awards for 'local government community heroes'. And Adrian Rose, from Calderdale's regeneration unit, is also a deserved winner; Adrian has also worked with us closely and has been offering us his professional support and expertise.
Posted Apr 16
Just to say that you can enrol as a Friend of the Town Hall now at the Heptonstall post office, too. Many thanks to them. See April 2nd for the full list of HB shops.
Posted Apr 13
Easter weekend has seen us running stalls at the Picture House (thank you to everybody who signed up as Friends, and to the friendly Picture House staff) and today in St George's Square, for the traditional Easter Monday duck race organised by the Rotary Club.
Posted Apr 10
Sixty-seven views of our film on You Tube in 24 hours... but no-one has left any comments yet. Want to tell us what you think?
Posted Apr 9
We're just back from a meeting with committee members of the HB Light Opera Society and the Calder Valley Youth Theatre, who rent the rehearsal room upstairs at the back of the Town Hall. An amicable meeting, although we'll admit we're disappointed that they confirmed to us an intention of applying to Calderdale for the ground floor of the rear as well, which would jeopardise our own plans for a new public hall available to all in the old housing offices here. Calderdale will in due course have to decide.
Regardless of this, we have made a commitment to the Light Opera Society that - if. as we hope, we do take over management of the whole site - we will renew their lease on the existing terms and for the existing rent. We'll also offer a five year term for their lease (currently, they are on a 12- month lease). It's our way of trying to make it absolutely clear that we support their current use of the rehearsal room and want their society, and the Youth Theatre, to survive and thrive.
Posted Apr 9
Strong start to Town Hall campaign, says the Hebden Bridge Times in a news story in today's paper. You can read it on the HBT website.
Posted Apr 8
Want to see the eleven minute film about our campaign? It's now on You Tube.
Just click on this link. Leave a comment, too, if you like!
Big thank you to Nick and Gabriel Wilding for their excellent film-making.
Posted Apr 8
We've been asked how the trustees for our charitable trust Hebden Bridge Community Association will be chosen. The answer is that everyone signing up as Friends/members of the Association will be able to take part in the election to choose them, at the Association's first AGM. Our current plan is to hold this in September. The current trustees are serving on an interim basis until then, when they will have to put themselves up for election along with other candidates.
Posted Apr 7
Calderdale's Cabinet approved yesterday a paper Framework for Community Management of Assets, which sets the overall strategic framework for asset transfer in our borough. This is the first step towards a transfer of Hebden Bridge Town Hall - before any actual transfer is possible, we have a lot of details to discuss and agree. Plenty more meetings ahead.
Posted Apr 6
After three days, we are delighted to be able to announce that we already have 110 Friends of the Town Hall. Still a long way to go to reach our target, but we feel we've made a strong start.
We were pleased to meet representatives of the HB Light Opera Society and Calder Valley Youth Theatre this evening. A letter we sent a month ago confirming that there would be no change to their current use of the upstairs rear rehearsal room seems to have not got through, and we were anxious to allay fears here. Both the light opera and youth theatre are long-established and valuable parts of our community life, and we certainly don't want them to lose their rehearsal facilities.
And to round off a busy day, Andrew had a brief meeting with Trevor Cryer, who is trying to arrange an asset transfer for Todmorden Town Hall, just up the valley from us.
Posted Apr 5
The end of a busy weekend. A big thank you to the volunteers who took our Friends leaflets round town: we've covered Birchcliffe, Fairfield, Dodd Naze. Mytholm and Stubbing Holme, plus the streets around Hangingroyd Rd. We hope to do the rest of town very soon (any offers?)
We've also had volunteers in the Co-op again today. Thanks to them too (and to everyone who signed up).
Posted Apr 4
We're running a stall roday in the Co-op : please look out for us, if you're in shopping today. We'll also be in tomorrow.
Posted Apr 2
We've started. The launch happened this evening, and well over fifty people crowded into the back downstairs room of the Town Hall for the occasion. Our thanks to Mayor of Hebden Royud Susan Press for welcoming us, and to Nick Wilding for his superb film about the Town Hall (it will be on You Tube soon). First snapshots:
Gwen signs up some of our first Friends.
Lesley and Dorothy hard at work on the application forms. Kate working hard behind.
Posted Apr 2
We launch the Friends of Hebden Bridge Town Hall tonight. Goal: 1000 Friends! Please help us reach our ridiculously ambitious target!
We're delighted at the front page splash in today's Hebden Bridge Times. It's on their website too.
Thank you too to the Hebden Bridge community website for their coverage. And a very big thank you to the shops locally who are acting as enrolment stations for anyone wanting to sign up as a Friend. We're grateful for their support and help in this way. The roll of honour is currently as follows:
- HB Post Office, Holme St
- The Bookcase, Market St
- Booths carpets, New Rd
- SK News , St Georges Sq
- Ryburne brokers, Market St
- the Pot Shop , Carlton St
- Ryburne estate agents, West End
- Crabtree, Albert St
- Innovation, Bridge Gate
- James Shepherd, Valley Rd
- Valet Stores , Crown St
- Monkey & Ellie, Market St
Posted Apr 1
Those I'm a Friend of the Town Hall mugs are gradually getting distributed, out into the shops locally which have very kindly agreed to act as enrolment points for our Friends scheme. Everything should start happening Fri morning. Be one of the first in your street with the mug!
Posted Mar 31
We are launching the Friends of Hebden Bridge Town Hall scheme this Thursday, at 6pm in the Town Hall. So - two days to go. The 10,000 leaflets are available for distribution, and we have 1000 mugs piled up in somebody's hall, waiting.
Posted Mar 22
Quick update, to say that we'll be making a big announcement at the very start of April, to tie in with the launch of a new Friends of the Town Hall scheme. Please keep reading this website!
Posted Mar 11
The project team met today. We welcomed both Holly Hesson and Paul Hesson who were with us today, and who have offered to help as the project develops. The agenda was as always a full one. Little by little we feel we've moving forward.
Posted Mar 10
A drink in the White Swan tonight with Gerard Liston of the Hope Baptist church in Hebden Bridge, to discuss our plans and to hear what they are planning for their very fine chapel. We've agreed to keep in touch with each other.
Posted Mar 9
We held a useful meeting on Friday - in HB Town Hall, naturally enough! - with Cllr Ian Cooper and with Kersten England, Calderdale's group director, community services. They reiterated their commitment to work in partnership with us towards an asset transfer scenario. They also advised us that a paper on Calderdale's policy on asset transfer is expected to go to Cabinet (the decision making body) on April 6th. We have arranged to meet both Ian and Kersten again next week.
Posted Mar 4
We hope to be approaching the final stages in the long negotiations we've been holding with Calderdale over the proposed asset transfer of the Town Hall. Calderdale have today put out a press release, which can be found on their website.
It includes the following:
Deciding the future of Hebden Bridge Council offices will come a step closer this week when officers from Calderdale Council meet with representatives from the Hebden Bridge Partnership.
The meeting will explore the Council's approach to 'asset transfer' - a national programme where the ownership of buildings or land can be transferred from the Council to community groups or organisations, if it can be shown that the community as a whole would benefit.
Cabinet Member for Community Services, Cllr Ian Cooper says:
"The Council is responsible for many buildings of local and historical significance. We have a responsibility to ensure that any buildings moving from our care and ownership have a secure future where they can be of benefit to the local community. "The Hebden Bridge Partnership have worked closely with us in exploring the practicalities of asset transfer. They have demonstrated their commitment to this landmark building, and their determination to have it play a key role in community life in Hebden Bridge for many years to come."
Following the meeting this week, the Council will need to draft a detailed policy on how asset transfer will be managed.
We have issued a short press quote in response, as follows: "This is another step forward in the work we are taking to secure the future of the Town Hall in perpetuity for the town. We will be meeting Calderdale to talk through the details of the asset transfer and we hope to be able to share news of progress on the talks with the Hebden Bridge community very shortly".
Our meeting is this coming Friday. (Incidentally, the Calderdale press release still talks of HB Partnership; of course, the Partnership was instrumental last year in creating the new charitable trust, Hebden Bridge Community Association, which is the legal vehicle we propose to use for the transfer).
Posted Mar 3
March already. Apologies, we've not been an assiduous as we could have been in keeping this diary updated during Feb. Just for the record, over the past four weeks we ('we' here means members of the Town Hall project team - follow this link if you've forgotten who we are!) have had two meetings with the ever-helpful Neil Berry of the Development Trust Association, a meeting with Kersten England, Group Director at Calderdale, a meeting with another Calderdale officer, Adrian Rose in the regeneration team, and a project team meeting. As you know, we're a volunteer team, but we totalled up the time we're putting in recently and it wasn't far short the equivalent of a full-time job! But we hope it will all be worth it in the end...
Andrew was pleased to be invited yesterday to HB Rotary Club, to discuss the project. And today we've had a useful meeting with representatives of Hebden Royd Town Council and the four rural parish councils. Thank you to all the councillors who showed up.
Posted Feb 4
Calderdale has launched a public consultation exercise, as a step towards developing a strategy on asset transfer of public buildings into community control. If you think that asset transfer of the kind we have been proposing for HB Town Hall is a good idea, we would encourage you to respond. (Respond, too, of you disagree with us!) There is a short response form or a more detailed 'white paper' on which comments are also being sought.
Posted Jan 29
If you haven't yet seen today's Hebden Bridge Times, where we make the front page lead (Major boost for Hall team), their story is also available on the newspaper's website. The Halifax Courier has also run a piece today, Town Hall step closer to bright new future. And there's a story too on the Hebden Bridge website.
Posted Jan 27
We have now launched an important new document, our Community Participation and Inclusion strategy. This is now out for consultation, and your feedback will be much appreciated.
Posted Jan 26
We have today adopted a draft environmental policy for the project. We'll welcome your comments and feedback.
Posted Jan 23
Our latest press release can be accessed here.
We're particularly pleased that Calderdale's Cllr Cooper has contributed a quote. He says: “The new Hebden Bridge Community Association offers the town a great opportunity. As an independent charity, they will have the opportunity to access sources of grant funding which are not available to a local authority. They will also be able to harness energy from within the Hebden Bridge community to breathe new life into the building. Although there are still decisions to be made and details to be worked out, we're excited about the ideas they've got for the building.”
Posted Jan 21
The letter of confirmation arrives from the Charity Commission, dated 19 Jan: "I am writing to confirm that the charity named above has been entered in the Central Register of Charities, with effect from the date of this letter". We are about to issue a press release.
Posted Jan 19
News: We are delighted to report that we have just heard that HB Community Association has become a registered charity.
Our registration number is 1127597.
Posted Jan 14
New year, new determination to make progress. The first meeting of the project team took place yesterday, and as always we had a pretty full agenda.
As part of our preparatory work for what we hope will be a busy year, we're looking to bring one or two extra people in to join the existing project team. We'd particularly like to coax someone with property and building work skills to identify themselves - perhaps someone who has or had a professional background as a QS or structural engineer. If you'd like to talk to us about what's involved, please get in touch.
We hope shortly to receive registered charitable status from the Charity Commission. At their request, we have made a very minor change to our Memorandum (part of our legal rules). The revised set of rules are on this website.
Posted Dec 23
Our last posting before Christmas. The project team would like to thank everyone who has supported what we've been doing over the past year, and to wish you all a very happy Christmas and New Year.
Our New Year resolution?: To work to try to ensure that 2009 is the year when new life really is breathed back into our beautiful Town Hall. With your help we're sure we'll get there.
Posted Dec 19
Quick follow-up, to say that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has just produced a thought-provoking report on asset transfer and community ownership of buildings.
Posted Dec 19
Sorry: it's three weeks since we last posted to this diary. Blame the approach of Christmas, maybe, or just the general busyness of life. Or the fact that we're going through a period when we feel we're putting in place the foundations for the future of the Town Hall project but when frustratingly we've very little definite that we can yet announce publicly. We hope, however, to be back on the front page of the HB Times (and the home page of HebWeb) early in the New Year with some proper news.
What have we been doing, then, since Nov 28th? By the time December is over, we'll have had two project team meetings, two detailed negotiating sessions with Calderdale, a meeting of our Parish and Town Councils advisory group, and a meeting too of HB Partnership, for which we are one of the key priority projects.
We've been finalising plans to launch a major Friends of the Town Hall scheme early in 2009. We've begun fundraising work, again with 2009 in mind. We've been completing discussions with the Charity Commission which should see us a registered charity very early in January.
We remain in touch with Yorkshire Forward, and again hope to be able to announce something here shortly. We've also been liaising with Marc Collett of Burns Collett (see Nov 19), who has been progressing well on the HB Workplace survey. Last chance to complete it, he says.
Posted Nov 28
Delighted to report that Nick Wilding has agreed to work with us to produce a short film about the Town Hall, and our work to safeguard its future. We hope to launch the film in the New Year.
Posted Nov 19
We welcome the initiative to make Hebden Bridge a pioneer in the development of superfast communications (ie ready for the post-broadband world), led by Calder Valley Our Net. This ties in very well with our own proposal for a small business centre, focused on the digital sector. CVON have a public meeting in town tonight.
Posted Nov 19
A message has come through from the 'give your support' part of this website: "On behalf of the Arts Festival, may I wish you all the best with this project. We are very much looking forward to working with you in the lead up to the 2009 Festival and beyond." Thank you, Hebden Bridge Arts Festival.
Posted Nov 19
We take a big step forward today in the process of business planning which we need to undertake to prepare for a long-term sustainable future for the Town Hall complex.
As well as planning to open up the existing Town Hall building for much greater community usage, the project team is currently evaluating a proposal for a new-build extension which would provide business services and modern affordable office premises for small businesses in Hebden Bridge. We are therefore launching an on-line survey of the accommodation and services needs of small businesses in our neighbourhood, as part of the necessary market research work.
We are particularly interested in reaching small businesses (including one-person businesses) in the creative and digital sector. If you are a local small business, please find the ten minutes or so to complete the Hebden Bridge workplace survey. Click on this link and you'll be taken straight there.
The survey is being run for us by Marc Collett of HB-based Burns Collett, a research consultancy specialising in the creative industries. If you'd like more information about this research exercise, or have queries about how to fill in the survey, Marc is happy to be phoned. You can reach him on 07830 245292 or 01422 843173.
Posted Nov 18
A useful project team meeting followed by a meeting of the joint Town and Parish Councils working group on the building.
And with great pride we can present our new logo for the Town Hall. We're using it at the top of this page, and here it is again below, in one of the colour versions.
We hope you like it as much as we do. It's been done for us by Mike Barrett of local business Frogs Graphic Design.
Posted Nov 16
Lots going on: with an eye to the building's potential role in economic regeneration, Janet Battye and Derrick Palmer from the project team attended a Calderdale briefing last week on the way in which European Regional Development Fund money may be available locally to support small businesses. Janet has also had a useful session with a funding adviser, looking at possible places to look for the capital funding the building will need. We anticipate needing to raise about £50,000 very shortly, with much larger sums needed for the longer term sustainable future of the building. We're optimistic that we'll get there in the end.
Posted Nov 4
A meeting today in the Town Hall itself with Jude Wadley, who has just taken up her post as project officer with Hebden Royd Town Council, and with David Dempsey, the Clerk to the council. We were pleased to meet Jude, and look forward to working closely with her as the project develops.
Posted Nov 3
Calderdale have invited our comments on a draft document on Community Ownership tenure. Our response includes the following remarks:
"There is a need if possible to move from an ‘old-style' approach to facilities management involving community groups, which implicitly sees the two parties as having their own (possibly conflicting) interests, to one where the local authority and the community partner work together to jointly find the best way forward for a community asset. These approaches could be described respectively as an ‘us and them' approach and a ‘you and me' approach... In the case of Hebden Bridge Town Hall, our primary driver is not a desire to use this building for our own needs (as perhaps might be the case more conventionally with a community group looking to operate activities in a public building), but to work with CMBC to ensure that that the community and civic possibilities for the building can be maximised...Our analysis is that asset transfer is the most likely way to achieve our joint aims, particularly in leveraging in the extra financial resources needed for the building, given current constraints on public sector finance."
Posted Oct 31
An informal meeting today around the kitchen table with Kate Dakers, who has agreed to take on the role of membership secretary for HB Community Association (see Sep 9th). A big thank you to her. We've also been meeting with Marc Collett who is about to begin work for us on a market analysis exercise for the proposed small business Creative Quarter which would form part of a major redevelopment of the Town Hall site.
Posted Oct 29
We are just back from Leeds, where the team met with Rhona Pringle and Steph Hiscott from Yorkshire Forward. Adrian Rose from Calderdale was also at the meeting. We are asking YF to consider provising the matched funding we need for our feasibility work on our longer-term development plans for the Town Hall, in particular the small enterprise related element. (This is to match the funding offered by Calderdale Business Trust - see Oct 22).
Posted Oct 24
Two of the project team had a meeting (yes, another meeting) with Calderdale yesterday. We are hopeful that we may now be approaching final agreement on the way forward, which will involve HB Community Association having a formal stake in the operation of the HB Town Hall early in the New Year. More news asap.
And we have today parcelled up our application for registered charitable status for HB Community Association, which is being sent off to the Charity Commission. More news on this, too, as we get it.
Posted Oct 22
We're delighted to report that the Calderdale Business Trust have agreed to make a contribution of £12500 plus VAT towards a feasibility study work. We've also just heard that we are to receive a £1000 grant as part of our participation in the Advancing Assets programme (see Aug 21), which we will be using to help launch our major membership drive locally very soon.
We have asked Mike Barrett at Frogs Graphic Design in HB to work with us on devising a logo for the project. And we have taken the plunge, and decided that we will in future talk about Hebden Bridge Town Hall, rather than 'the council offices'. The problem with the latter, we found, was that people outside the valley started picturing an undistinguished 1960s-style concrete office block - and then wondered why we were so keen to preserve it. The Town Hall is what the HB Times has called the building, and we're happy to go along with them.
Posted Sep 30
We have applied to Calderdale Business Trust for financial support for our feasibility study. Derrick and Andrew attended the Trust's meeting today at Dean Clough, to put our case and be grilled. We'll let you know when we've heard back from them.
Posted Sep 16
Now that HB Community Association Ltd has been incorporated (see Sep 8), we will in due course be changing the web address for these pages to www.hbcommunityassoc.org.uk. You'll also be able to reach us on www.hebdenbridgetownhall.org.uk. Our existing web address will continue for the foreseeable future, too.
Posted Sep 16
Andrew Bibby, our joint project coordinator, was at the Development Trust Association conference in Leeds yesterday, and reports that it was useful to meet with others from similar projects and initiatives around the country. The minister for communities and local government Hazel Blears was at the DTA event too, and took the opportunity to announce that the government will be establishing a new Asset Transfer unit, based at the DTA.
Posted Sep 9
We are looking for a volunteer Membership Secretary. Can you help? Details of what is involved have been helpfully posted on the Hebden Bridge website here.
Posted Sep 8
Just to let you know that Hebden Bridge Community Association Ltd, the new not-for-profit we are establishing, is now registered at Companies House. Our company number is 6685276. Click here if you're interested in seeing our rules (memorandum and articles).
Posted Aug 21
A useful meeting today at Northgate House in Halifax to discuss Calderdale's participation in the Advancing Assets pilot programme. Janet Battye and Andrew Bibby represented our project, and we were pleased to have two people from Luddenden Community Association there too - the Luddenden civic hall is the second pilot for asset transfer in the borough.
And then in the evening, a milestone: the formal signing of the new legal constitution to create a new company limited by guarantee, HB Community Association Ltd, which we are establishing to run the council offices. The forms are now off to Companies House in Cardiff to be registered.
Posted Aug 18
Holidays have been here, but the project team is now back in harness. We had a useful meeting last Wednesday with Ian Thompson, Calderdale's group director for regeneration and development, and have another meeting with Calderdale on Thursday this week, when the Development Trust Association will be there too to discuss how to advance Calderdale's participation in the asset transfer demonstration programme. More news soon.
Posted July 31
We have been drawing up the legal constitution (memorandum and articles) for the new charitable organisation we propose to create, to take on the work of progressing the project. We have explored a number of different legal options, but in the end have chosen the familiar Company Limited by Guarantee model, used very widely for not-for-profit organisations.
We are using the Charity Commission model mem and arts, with very minor changes. We hope to register as a company very shortly, and then seek charitable registration. We are currently proposing to use the name Hebden Bridge Community Association Ltd.
Once established, we will working to ensure that the largest number of people in the town sign up as members. Keep watching the HB Times.
Posted July 21
Today's bedside reading for the project team is a new publication from the Dept for Communities & Local Government entitled Managing Risks in Asset Transfer: A Guide. It's useful to be reminded of the risks attached to asset transfer into community ownership (though we'd argue that we've already thought quite long and hard about many of the issues addressed in the report.)
Posted July 21
Good to hear this morning from our colleagues at the Luddendenfoot Civic Centre, who are the other pilot project for community asset transfer identified for Calderdale's demonstration programme. We're looking forward to working with them closely.
By the way, in the July 11th entry we failed to give a web link for the Dept for Communities and Local Government press release which mentions us. It's here.
Posted July 18
There's a piece in the Halifax Courier today, too.
(But shouldn't the Courier and the HB Times think about getting a new photo to illustrate their articles?)
Posted July 18
It's good to see that we've made the front page lead in the Hebden Bridge Times this week once again. If you've not seen it, it's on the HBT website. And thanks too to the Hebden Bridge community website for running the story prominently.
Posted July 11
We have major news to report.
Firstly, the government's new white paper Communities in Control has just been published. This reinforces the government's commitment to the idea of community management and ownership of assets currently in local authority control.
Secondly, the government has announced a £70m Community Builders grant fund. This is the long-awaited 'community anchors' initiative which this blog has already mentioned. The practical arrangements for this fund (who will administer it etc) are still to be decided, but rest assured that we shall be looking at it very closely indeed.
Finally - and even closer to home - Calderdale council has been successfully chosen as one of a small number of local authorities selected to pilot community asset transfer. HB Council Offices is one of two public buildings selected for this pilot. (The other is the civic centre in Luddendenfoot).
This is what the government press release has to say about us. It's slightly garbled, but rather encouraging: "Hebden Bridge Council Offices - a listed building in the centre of one of the market towns currently used by Hebden Royd Town Council and other public sector partners, with limited community use. There is scope to be a significant community resource with function rooms, offices, meeting rooms, etc. This is being led by new, but high capacity partnership, including key community leaders".
Posted July 9
We are sorry to say that we have just realised that the forms on the 'give us your support' pages on this website have not been working for some time. Our apologies if you have been trying to contact us in this way. We're trying to get the fault fixed.
Posted July 9
The BBC reports today that a government White Paper is forthcoming: "Proposals to give people in England more power over how local services are run are due to be unveiled. A government White Paper, titled Communities in Control, suggests pilot schemes allowing some council assets to be transferred to neighbourhood groups. Community centres, swimming pools and land could be handed over under the programme, the BBC understands."
Posted July 4
Janet and Andrew went along to the informal gathering of the HB Ethical Business network last night... we're grateful for the interest shown and the suggestions offered. Thanks to all who were there.
Posted June 30
June almost gone already... we're sorry if the blog has been a little idle recently, but we're in a period when there's nothing particularly dramatic to report. Which doesn't mean that the project team hasn't been busy: two meetings last Monday with Calderdale officers, a project meeting on Tuesday afternoon, and then the HB Partnership meeting that same evening, so plenty has been going on. We are now making good progress, we believe, and are working towards another public consultation event early in September, where we'll be giving a report of what we're proposing for the building and inviting comments back from the HB community.
PS: good brass band festival yesterday, wasn't it.
Posted June 12
A phone call this morning from Trevor Cryer from Todmorden. Trevor is leading a community initiative there to work with Calderdale to find a long-term sustainable future for Tod Town Hall. It's good to have made contact, and we've agreed to keep in touch with each other.
(And we're not a bit envious of Tod Town Hall's absolutely fabulous architecture - honest...)
Posted June 11
A letter arrives in the post from Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office, addressed to our joint project coordinator.
"Dear Andrew", it begins (the envelope is addressed to Mrs Andrew Bibby, but never mind, mail merge can be a tricky business).
"I know your organisation was recently part pf a partnership that was unsuccessful in applying to the Community Assets programe," Phil continues. "First of all I wanted to let you know that I value the time and effort that went into your application... The assessment of each application was carried out in comparison to the large number of other applicants - rejection on this occasion foes not mean that your project was weak or was not considered fundable."
The Minister goes on to suggest other possible funding options (most of which, to be honest, we've already looked at). Interestingly, though, he then adds, "We have also committed to a future investment in Community Anchor organisations". This is interesting because we, and lots of other community organisations around the country, have been wondering what had happened to the government announcement for support for 'community anchors'. (What's a community anchor, you ask? Basically, it's almost exactly the sort of initiative that we're planning here in HB. Background reading here if you're interested).
An initial tranche of £11m was previously announced in the government's comprehensive spending review, and a further (possibly quite substantial) amount of funding has also been hinted at. But so far nothing concrete has emerged from Whitehall. The mention of it in this letter is therefore somewhat encouraging.
It's also interesting that the Cabinet Office decided to send the letter at all... a reflection, perhaps, of some pressure on the government that, if they are to advance the community asset transfer agenda, they need to do something to keep projects like ours on-board.
Posted May 28
Our latest newsletter is now back, and about to be distributed. Or you can get a sneak preview here.
Posted May 20
Andrew and Janet from the project team met this morning with two of Calderdale's group directors, Kersten England (Community services) and Ian Thompson (Regeneration and Development). We welcome Calderdale's continuing commitment to partnership with us, and together we are discussing ways in which we can find the resources we need for the future of the building. We're also in agreement on the need to keep pushing on.
Our June/July newsletter goes off to the printers today. It should be available for distribution around the town next week.
Posted May 12
Our watchword over the past few weeks has been 'maintain the momentum', so it's interesting to see that the Development Trust Association has come up with almost the same phrase in a recent report on the community assets transfer programme. Its evidence to the government, Maintaining Momentum, talks of 'very positive stories to tell on the ground' (we'd like to think that, among others, that includes us). But the DTA also complains that the government has not provided adequate funding to get the community assets transfer agenda properly established. "The deep disappointment has been the failure to address the investment gap," it says. We'd agree.
Posted May 12
Hebden Bridge's twin towns are St Pol and Warstein, and delegations from each town were in HB over the weekend. What a pity that, unlike both St Pol and Warstein, our own town hall building doesn't have space to provide a focus for civic events of this kind.
(Or at least, yet...)
Posted Apr 30
If you're a homeowner, you'll know that there's always some bits of maintenance which you really ought to be doing to the building - painting the gutters, sorting out a missing slate, that sort of thing.
Looking after a old (and architechturally distinguished) building like HB Council offices obviously multiplies the amount of potential maintenance work (and potential cost) considerably. So before we go ahead and agree to any transfer of the Council Offices building from Calderdale into community ownership, we need to be absolutely sure that there are no nasty surprises waiting for us.
The survey we received yesterday is a comprehensive read, and we are still digesting carefully what it contains. Some things we can easily cope with: for example, one downpipe needs refixing to the wall (likely cost £50) and the parquet floor in the council chamber, whilst "generally in a sound conditon" could apparently do with a repolish (£150). There are missing slates, and problems with the gutters. The windows also urgently need attention.
There are other perhaps more major problems identified, including for example an unexplained "large sunken area to the central part" of the ground floor of the former housing department. We'll be taking expert advice on problems like these, and of course talking further to Calderdale about how all the identified maintenance issues can be sorted out.
Posted Apr 29
A useful visit today by three of the project team to the pioneering Elsie Whiteley Innovation Centre in Halifax. Our thanks to Barbara Harbinson of Halifax Opportunities Trust for her time, and for her support for what we're proposing for Hebden.
And then straight to a meeting with Calderdale. Here among other things we were given an up-to-date survey of the state of the fabric of the Council Offices. We also talked together about how we hope to develop Calderdale's Customer First service in HB using the building.
Posted Apr 21
One of us was in a pub in the Dales last Saturday with friends from Hebden Bridge when the conversation turned to the Council offices project and the question came up: "Sorry to hear the news.. what do you do next?".
It's a question those of us on the project team are finding ourselves frequently being asked. It's a welcome indication of the interest which the project has attracted locally. And here's what we say in answer:
At the moment we are looking very carefully for other potential sources of capital funding for the project. There is currently no single obvious pot of grant funding available (though this may change), so the most likely way forward is through a basket of finance, some grant funding but also some loan finance. We are looking particularly at the loan funds tailored specifically at social enterprises.
If loan finance is to part of the solution, we have to be sure that we can service the interest and capital repayments, and this in turn means we have to be absolutely confident that we have sufficient revenue streams coming in. It's enormously helpful in this respect to have Derrick Palmer with us on the project team - as director of finance for a large social housing trust, he comes with the experience to ensure our financial projections are robust. (If you've forgotten who we all are on the project team, it's here on the web).
In this context, we're actively exploring ways to utilise part of the Council offices site to create a new-build incubation unit for very small local businesses, looking particularly at those operating in the creative and digital sector. This would not change the main community focus of the building, of course, but would we think help to strengthen the long-term sustainability of the project. More info here as the plans develop.
In the meantime, we met last Weds with our architect again, who is doing some additional work on the proposals for us. We have another meeting with Calderdale officers next week. So - don't think we've gone to ground. There's a lot of thinking and planning going on.
Posted Apr 10
We make the front page lead once again on the Hebden Bridge Times, albeit not quite with the headline we'd have preferred. Yes, the Community Assets Programme news is disappointing, but we're glad that the HBT has chosen to run an upbeat piece which focuses primarily on our determination to carry on. We always knew that this was a long-term project, and we remain optimistic that in the end we'll be successful in finding the resources we need to breathe new life into the Council Offices building.
Incidentally the HBT talks of 'the Town Hall'. So maybe we should switch to using this term too? (see March 5th!)
Posted Apr 7
Big Lottery has now made public the successful applicants for the Community Assets Programme.
As for us, the project team will be meeting again next weekend to plan our next steps. Please keep checking this website for further news.
Posted Apr 1
March 31st was the date when, as you'll know if you've been reading this blog, we'd been told we'd hear from the Big Lottery Fund about our grant bid. We were expecting either a fat or a thin envelope through the letterbox yesterday, and (for reasons we're sure you can work out) we were hoping that it would be the fat one we got.
In the event, it wasn't. We got a letter telling us that 'although your application had many good qualities, we received more good applications than we could fund'. So, sadly for us and for everyone in HB who has been rooting for us over the past weeks and months (and by the way, your support has really been appreciated), it's a No.
So is this the end? Absolutely not. Of course we're disappointed (we gave the application our best efforts and are satisfied with what we have managed to do), but we're determined that the work done in developing the project proposal won't go to waste. We'll be spending a little time taking stock, but plan now to look more widely for ways to finance the work which we feel is necessary to bring the Council Offices back into the heart of the community.
The project team had a brief meeting yesterday night and we've also had positive meetings today with both Calderdale officers and with the town and parish council representatives. Oh, and we've put out the following press release.
Posted Mar 10
"So what's happening about the Council Offices?". This is the question which those of us who are on the voluntary project team regularly find ourselves being asked by friends and acquaintances. To which the answer has to be: "Ask me again on March 31st." That's when we've been told that we'll hear whether our bid for capital funding from the Community Assets Programme has been successful. At the moment it's simply a case of wait and see.
Which isn't to say that we're not busy. We had another meeting this morning with two of Calderdale's officers to progress the negotiations with the council (helped by takeaway coffee from Coffee Cali), and we've arranged to meet them again next week. We also have a project team meeting on Weds and a meeting with the town and parish council reps on Fri.
Posted Mar 5
An email has come through from somebody locally who supports the project but who isn't sure we should continue to talk about the 'Council Offices'. "We must find something more user-friendly. I like 'Town Hall', in that it's for the town as a whole," he says.
We're not sure about using the Council Offices name in the long-term, either (when the function room and meeting rooms will make it much more of a real community centre, and not just a set of offices), but we're not convinced about Town Hall as an alternative. We've pondered ultimately moving to use the name 'The Bridge Centre' for the whole complex, as you may have gathered from the web domain we registered for this site. Any feedback?
Posted Mar 4
Another meeting today with Calderdale officers, with Janet Battye, Andrew Bibby and Helen Gilchrist there representing the project team. (We met in a back room of HB Methodist Church - it was mighty cold).
We're now into the detailed negotiations of how the proposed asset transfer of the Council Offices will work in practice. There's goodwill on both sides, but there's also lots of issues to sort out. For example, the building is in poorish repair, and before very long will need some serious maintenance carried out. We couldn't recommend community ownership if it were to mean taking on the liability for maintenance which should really have been carried out years ago. And we're very conscious that old buildings can be expensive: £200K for a new boiler system, anyone?
So we are, we hope, proceeding cautiously. Nevertheless, we are sure that the long-term future of the Council Offices lies in this building being managed and looked after by the community in HB. Ultimately, we're sure we can negotiate the arrangements we need for a sustainable future for the property.
Posted Feb 29
Andrew Bibby and Janet Battye spent the day today in York at a seminar organised by Community Matters. As we've said before (see Jan 11), we see both Community Matters and the Development Trust Assoc are key national support organisations for us, and both have already been very helpful as we've been developing the project.
Today's seminar included a presentation on the Visible accreditation scheme for community centres which we believe could be very relevant to us in Hebden Bridge. Useful sessions too on the Every Action Counts scheme for sustainability in community centres, on involving young people, and - of course - on asset transfer.
It's the end of a busy week: there was a HB Partnership meeting on Tues, and a project team meeting on Thurs. Next week looks busy too...
Posted Feb 20
Another high-level meeting this afternoon between the project team and Calderdale, represented by group director Kersten England and two of her colleagues. We're now moving ahead at a rapid pace to negotiate the detailed terms of the proposed property transfer, with a target date for the request for formal approval by Calderdale's Cabinet in just a few weeks' time. Plenty to discuss and plenty to do in the intervening period: another meeting set for Friday week. Details will be here.
Posted Feb 6
Sorry, a slight gap in postings to this diary recently - some of the project team have been on hols, and another is about to have a week's break. But just to assure you that we haven't been idle. We've been working to supply some final information and minor revisions to the original grant application, requested by Big Lottery, and also talking further with Calderdale about the exact nature of the property transfer - we'd expected to do this slightly later in the project development process, but we've been told that this is information which is needed for the assessment. So never a dull moment...
Posted Jan 30
We've stressed over and over that our proposals for the Council Offices building have been developed not just to save a fine architectural building, but to meet real community needs. We've pointed out the importance, for example, of there being a proper access point for public services in Hebden Bridge, so people don't have to get on the bus(es) to Halifax.
Calderdale's official statistics on Hebden Bridge (actually the Calder ward, covering HB and the rural parishes, plus Lumbutts and Mankinholes) are very revealing. Well over a quarter of the households here (27%) have no car, for example. And - despite the impression we may sometimes give to visitors on a summer Sunday - we're not rolling in wealth. 30% of Hebden's households have annual income below £15,000.
Posted Jan 29
Good to hear today from the people a little way down the valley at the Luddenden Foot Community Association, who are also negotiating with Calderdale over the future of their own civic building. We've promised we'll keep in touch and support each other.
Posted Jan 25
Another day, another meeting... we're aware that you may be tiring a little of reading about all the meetings which project team members have been going to, but what we're trying to do during this current period is to put in place strong foundations for the long-term success of the project. Anyway, yesterday we had a very useful discussion with staff from both the Development Trust Assoc and Community Matters (see Jan 11th's entry for the background). Calderdale's Group Director Kersten England was with us, too. Among other things, we've agreed that Community Matters' accreditation scheme for community centres (known as VISIBLE) will provide a good model for us, in seeking to ensure that we operate by the highest management and accountability standards possible.
Posted Jan 21
Not a good day to visit Hebden Bridge (lashing rain, flooding, trains haywire) but today was the day when our grant application was receiving its 'full assessment', and the two members of the Big Lottery Fund team who were coming to do that managed to get into HB (and - just - out as well, in mid-afternoon). We went through our application in detail with them, and also took them on a full tour of the Council offices buildings. (Our thanks to the members of the Light Opera society for waiting patiently for us to arrive, to show us their rehearsal rooms).
As you'll know if you've been reading this website, we'll know the result of our grant application by March 31st .
Posted Jan 20
Just to report that we've learned that we're one of 128 applications under the Community Assets Programme going through to full assessment (there were 220 applications initially received). This information comes from a government press release published on Friday.
Another bit of news: Andrew Bibby and Janet Battye had a meeting on Friday with two officers from the Renaissance Market Towns programme team of Yorkshire Forward (our Regional Development Agency), essentially to bring Yorkshire Forward up to date on our project. A senior member of Calderdale's regeneration team was also there.
Posted Jan 18
We're delighted to be able to report that we have heard that our grant application under the Community Assets Programme has got through the first assessment round, and will now go forward to full assessment.
Grant assessors will be visiting Hebden Bridge next Monday to meet members of the project team, and to ask us more about the proposals. As well as going through the details of our bid, we'll do our best to communicate to them the enthusiasm which the project has been attracting locally. So (as our newsletter puts it), it's fingers crossed, please, Hebden Bridge...
Posted Jan 18
Our Jan/Feb newsletter is now back from the printers and being distributed around town. It's also available here.
Posted Jan 17
Project coordinators Andrew Bibby and Cllr Janet Battye met Calderdale's group director Kersten England again this morning, as part of our joint commitment to keeping things moving forward. One idea which we discussed - and will be discussing further - is the opportunity for Calderdale to volunteer for the government's Advancing Assets for Communities: Demonstration Programme, under which thirty local authorities will be chosen as models of good practice.
The Programme critera are "a readiness on the part of both the local authority and community partners to give priority to partnership development around asset management and tranfer" and "the availability of assets that could be considered for transfer". Well, we reckon there'd be no problem meeting both these criteria.
Posted Jan 11
A short posting today. We've been preparing in the past few days our first newsletter, with news of what's happening. The newsletter is now at the printers and should be out at the end of next week. We've also made a few changes to this website.
We've been in touch with Community Matters (the national federation of community associations) and the Development Trust Association (which works with community owned and led trusts holding community assets), both of whom have offered helpful advice. We have a meeting with both organisations later in the month.
Posted Jan 4
As part of our partnership with Calderdale council, we held a useful meeting yesterday with a number of senior officers at Calderdale, including Kersten England (Group director, community services), Bernadette Livesey (Chief Law and Administration officer) and Roosje Barr (Head of Building Consultancy). We are grateful for their participation and engagement in what is a pioneering project for us all.
Calderdale has already agreed a joint statement with us, under which we undertake "to work in partnership to secure the long-term future of the Hebden Bridge council offices for the provision of community services and community use". This document states that the council "commits in principle to agree to the transfer of the Council Offices" to Hebden Bridge Partnership Ltd, subject to formal approval by Calderdale council.
The statement also sets out that "the terms of the transfer.. shall be negotiated to the satisfaction of both parties, such as to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of the buildings under community control". It is the detail of this arrangement which we now have to discuss and agree. Calderdale has to ensure that the transfer will be in the best public interest. We have to ensure that the terms are right so that the Council Offices, under community control, will be safeguarded for the very long-term future.
Andrew Bibby, Janet Battye and our solicitor Keith Lomax represented HB Partnership at this meeting. We plan to meet again in mid-February. A report will be put up here, of course.
Posted Jan 3
There's a good news story in this week's Hebden Bridge Times about the elections for the Hebden Bridge Partnership Board for 2008. The Board comprises: Polly Webber (Alt Technology Centre), Lesley Mackay (Sustainable Transport), Gwen Goddard (Friends of Calder Holmes Park), Andrew Bibby (HB Walkers' Action), Michelle Dargan-Cole (Girlguiding), Janet Oosthusyen (Central St School), Dave Nelson (Arts Festival), Lee Comer (HEADS Arts Group), David Fletcher, Steve Murty (both representing local business), Michael Newton (Camera Club), Gerard Liston (Hope Baptist), Nicola Milburn-Jones (Civic Trust), Michelle Foster, Harry Ward (both Town Council), Janet Battye (Calderdale), Fiona Gibbon (Erringden PC), Dorothy Sutcliffe (Blackshaw PC), David Bell (Wadsworth PC), Susan Quick, Diana Monahan, Stewart Brown (cooptions). Heptonstall PC hope to appoint a representative at their next meeting. In the words of our chair, quoted in the Hebden Bridge Times, "This is an exceptionally strong management group, which will ensure that the Partnership is a dynamic part of local life in 2008."
Unfortunately, the article doesn't seem to be on the HBT website yet, or we would have put in a link.
Posted Dec 20
We've produced a report of our drop-in public consultation session last Saturday at the Council Offices. You'll find here all the 67 comments we received (plus the 20 suggestions and ideas posted up on post-it notes). If you agree, or disagree, with any of these comments, you can always use the online facility here to let us have your own comments.
Posted Dec 19
We held the AGM of our parent organisation Hebden Royd Partnership last night and were very pleased at the attendance, not least that over twenty people stood for our Board, from all parts of the Hebden community. We also agreed a minor legal name change: in recognition of the fact that Mytholmroyd now has its own community umbrella organisation in Royd Regeneration, we are from now on to be known as Hebden Bridge Partnership.
Posted Dec 19
A journalist from the Halifax Courier attended our drop-in session on Saturday, and her report appears in today's paper and on the Courier website.
Posted Dec 16
Hebden Bridge was cold, icy and misty for our drop-in open morning at the Council offices yesterday but that still didn’t discourage an estimated 150 people from coming along to the building, looking at the plans and – the bit which really heartened us – with one accord giving their support for what we’re proposing.
We’ll post every comment we received up here as soon as we have a moment, but here is a sample, chosen at random (honest!):
- Would be wonderful – meeting room for more than 80: great.
- A splendid building which should be preserved and put to good use for the community.
- A very worthwhile initiative.
- Must be maintained for civil purpose.
- Make sure it doesn't fall by the wayside!
- Excellent idea! Lots of imagination, thought and communication needed.
- Will be an excellent resource when complete.
We also had a (completely unplanned) demonstration of why the building needs to be made properly accessible: the father who with considerable difficulty got his child in the wheelchair up (and then down) the flights of stairs to the first floor.
A big thank you to the team of leafleteers (including the contingent from Erringden Parish Council) who gave out around 1000 leaflets in town, braving frostbite and hypothermia in the process.
Posted Dec 14
We’re really pleased to see the feature in the Hebden Bridge Times today about our project. If you haven’t see it, it’s available online here
And if you missed the earlier article, published on November 1st, this is also online.
Posted Dec 11
We’ve committed to making the building as energy-efficient and sustainable as possible, and have been looking into the intriguing idea that we might be able to harness the water power of the Hebden Water alongside to drive a microhydro turbine. Our thanks to the HB Alternative Technology Centre who let one of our project team sit in on a workshop today on hydro power. It’s not yet clear to us whether there will be enough head of water to bring in hydro, but we want to research this further.
Posted Dec 7
Come along to the Council offices on Saturday December 15th to find out more about the project. Any time between 11am – 1.30pm. advertising this event.
Posted Dec 3 2007:
We had an initial telephone interview with a grants officer from Big Lottery Fund today. We expect to hear by January whether our application to the Community Assets Programme has been shortlisted. We will tell you here
