Hebden Bridge Web

Chris Wadsworth is the candidate that lives within Fairfield ward right in the centre of Hebden Bridge and works as a sustainability manager in Todmorden. Chris states “it is a privilege to be selected once again as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Fairfield vacancy on Hebden Royd Town Council ”.

This is the second time within 15 months Chris is fighting to represent Fairfield following the resignation of a Labour member within a ward that already has two Labour Councillors and he doesn’t believe it would be well represented by a third.

Having been on the doorstep listening to residents Chris will be fighting to ensure the Town Council exerts as much pressure as possible on Calderdale to keep our roads moving as freely as possible and deal with parking problems which blights many areas of Fairfield and contributes to deteriorating air quality for us all.

I moved to Hebden Bridge in 1994 and have, ever since, been active in local charities and the peace movement as well as the Green Party.  After the Boxing Day flood, I was one of the organisers of the Books for Children drive which supplied the children of Burnley Road School, marooned in a temporary home without books, with box-loads of reading material.

I believe in action rather than words so I want to focus my election statement on two immediate local issues, about which I believe Calderdale Council and its ruling group need to be held to account, rather than engaging in woolly platitudes.

First, the recent announcement that the Council will accept the closure of the 6th Form at Calder High School (CHS), following hard on the similar closure of the 6th at Todmorden High School done in the hope that students would go instead to CHS. In September, 2014, these two had a combined attendance of over 300. Now, it is forecast that the CHS 6th will soon fall below 100 students requiring its closure. The result will be that local children will be forced to travel long distances, perhaps as far as Huddersfield, lacking any continuity in their education. The future viability of both schools must be thrown into doubt.

It is clear that there is something very badly amiss with management at CHS and has been for several years yet the Council, which are responsible for the two schools, seem content to accept the situation without any inquiry or explanation. As a councillor, I would press for action to be taken to prevent further decline and, potentially, closure of CHS.

Second, the Cabinet of Calderdale Council seem ready to implement a local Accountable Care system for Calderdale which will inevitably result in a decline in the already hard-pressed health services in Calderdale.  It impossible to go into the details of this plan in such a limited space. For this, I would suggest reading the excellent postings of my fellow Green Party member and Calder Ward candidate, Jenny Shepherd, at the Upper Calder Valley Plain Speaker website. Suffice it that it is opposed by Calderdale Trades Council and many health-care professionals. Yet the Calderdale Labour Cabinet appears ready to accept the plan without even a full Council debate.

As a councillor, I would campaign for the implementation of this scheme to be halted until radically amended.

I would, as councillor, actively work with the problems of local residents concerning Council action and do my best to improve the social and environmental standards of the area. This has to be done on a case-by-case basis not in some generalised way as the two examples above show. Action is needed not words. I challenge my fellow candidates to declare how they would approach these two issues.

The main reason I am standing as Labour's candidate in Calder Ward is that I want to make sure our voices continue to be heard on Calderdale Council.

Since first moving here 30 years ago I have seen time and time again the power of our community to stand together. But this is now being undermined by the millions of pounds in cuts supported by local Conservatives.

Despite these draconian cuts our Labour council has:

• balanced the council's books
• protected our libraries, parks, school and children's services
• earmarked £100 000 extra next year to help tackle the obscenity of homelessness
• created a £10 million fund to invest in small towns like Todmorden and Hebden Bridge

Our Labour-run council also abolished cremation and burial fees for children and has led the campaign to defend our A&E services.

In stark contrast, the Conservatives proposed a small-town fund but specifically excluded Hebden Bridge and Todmorden. They also proposed wasting £200,000 paying management consultants to advise them on how to cut half a million pounds from adult social care. This would have a devastating impact on some of the most vulnerable people in our community.
I think Todmorden and Hebden Bridge libraries are genuine community hubs that change lives, but you may not be aware that the local Lib Dems wanted to cut library opening hours by 30%.

If elected, I am committed to listening to people in our community, especially those who struggle to have a voice, and I would support our Labour council to:

• continue to oppose unfair and damaging government cuts supported by our local Conservatives
• create more economic growth locally especially as we continue to recover from the 2015 Boxing Day floods
• help deliver a new sixth form college in Halifax
• build more homes which local people can afford

I have lived in several parts of Calder Ward including Todmorden, Old Town and currently in Hebden Bridge town centre with my civil partner, Tamsin, and our son.

I've worked with teenagers with learning needs for the last 12 years, represent West End ward on Hebden Royd Town Council and run popular events encouraging people to participate in the local live music scene. I have also worked for businesses in Hebden Bridge and Todmorden, and have just started a new job with one in Mytholmroyd.

I hope you will support me on Thursday May 3rd so we can continue to protect services in our communities.

I’ve lived in Hebden Bridge for 25 years. Both my children went to school here. As well as working as a university lecturer in Leeds, Bradford and Bolton, I’ve also worked in Hebden Bridge as a WEA tutor in creative writing, a bookseller, cafe worker and freelance writer and filmmaker. I reckon this has given me a usefully rounded sense of life and work here, that would make me an effective representative of people in Calder Ward as your Councillor.

Calderdale Council would work better with a Green presence. No other parties share our key policy of one planet living - which means making sure our society and economy don’t exceed the planet’s ecological limits.

As your Green Councillor, I would work to create a safe climate and environment and a fair shares economy, and to protect and improve publicly owned and provided public services.

If you elect me, I will respond effectively to people’s calls for help and representation regarding Council and other services.

I will also:

• Work with other Councillors to restore the Committee system that gives each Councillor a meaningful role in decision making.
• Oppose the Council’s implementation of the government’s new cost-cutting and privatising NHS and social care system - the Calderdale Integrated Care System - and fight to keep the NHS as a comprehensive service that cares for everyone on the basis of their clinical need - not according to financial considerations that will restrict access to treatment.
• Push for a zero waste policy for Calderdale, starting with an end to single use plastic cups in Council properties and the installation of water refill points throughout Calderdale to cut the use of plastic water bottles.
• Promote biodiversity on Council-owned land, starting with replacing the Council’s use of glyphosate weed killer with ecofriendly foamstream.
• Join with other councils around the country to effectively fight central government funding cuts to local government.
• Make sure that all Council development and regeneration schemes abide by the principles of One Planet Living - which means abandoning economic growth as a goal and making sure that resource use does not contribute to climate change, biodiversity loss or unhealthy environments.
• Work to reduce air pollution by creating  transport corridors in towns and villages for walking and cycling, and pushing for other measures the public voted for in the Calderdale Green Party Air Pollution survey last year. Starting with improvements to the Hebden Bridge to Todmorden section of the Rochdale Canal towpath, which has been dropped from the CityConnect scheme.
• Push hard for all housing redevelopment and development schemes to include adequate amounts of social housing and oppose redevelopment schemes to replace social housing with so-called affordable housing.
• Do everything possible to ban the burn on Walshaw Moor Estate and other environmentally unfriendly land management practices.

I’ve lived in the ward for twenty-three years.

But this shouldn’t be about me!

This election is about you. It is your opportunity to influence how your Council is run, and how the money you pay in Council tax is spent.

What matters most is that you should use this opportunity. This is your vote, and your choice. How you use this opportunity is entirely up to you.

But obviously I hope you will consider voting Liberal Democrat!

During the last few months I have been speaking to many people in this ward about their views on the local area, and the issues that are important to them. I would like to thank everyone who very kindly gave feedback by completing my local residents’ survey.

I have listened to you all.

One of the ways that the Liberal Democrats are different from other parties, is that we are a party that listens. Other parties will tell you what they think is best for you. But Liberal Democrats believe that you have the right to make your own choices, about what is best for you, your family, and your community.

Something that became clear from the recent residents’ survey, was that the majority of you agree with Liberal Democrat policies, even if you do not actually vote Lib Dem.

For example, we asked your views on the recent decision of Labour run Calderdale Council to relocate Cragg Vale Primary School, from its original location in Cragg Vale, to the Calder High School site, to be part of an "all through school'. The vast majority of people who completed the survey, said they disagreed with Calderdale Council’s decision. The Liberal Democrats also strongly opposed this decision. It is just a pity that there was no Liberal Democrat Councillor for this ward, to speak up for the rights of the Cragg Vale parents and children, and for the wider community in Cragg Vale.

The Liberal Democrat group on Calderdale Council pledge to protect all successful small schools from merger or closure.
Many of you have also told me how disappointed you were by the recent news about the closure of Calder High School’s sixth form.

I realise that the Headteacher and governors of Calder High School have made a difficult decision, in difficult circumstances. But it is unacceptable that Labour run Calderdale Council have allowed school sixth forms to close, without making any alternative provision for post sixteen education.

Young people in this area will be forced to travel outside Calderdale for their post sixteen studies, because there is no sixth form college in Calderdale.

The Liberal Democrats on Calderdale Council believe there should be a sixth form college in Calderdale, with two sites, one in Halifax, and one in the Upper Calder Valley.

If you have found yourself nodding in agreement while reading this, could it be that you are a Liberal Democrat without realising it?

Please consider voting for me, to be your Liberal Democrat representative on Calderdale Council.