A modern, democratic and efficient Council

Sorting out customer first and improving access to services online

We are open to new ideas. That is why we would transform how the Council delivers services.  We would ensure that it is easier to interact with the Council and the services you require with it via a mobile phone.  We would also ensure the Council maps reported faults such as fly-tipping, potholes, street light repairs so you can see if a problem has been reported and when it will be fixed.

We would also sort out problems with customer first where problems people report are not getting fixed or passed onto the right officers.

A more commercially minded approach

Many local authorities are leading the way on the commercialisation agenda in Local Government. Sadly, Calderdale Council that managed to lose £60K a year running car boot sales is not one of them.

We would seek to examine all Council services to see where there are opportunities to generate more of a revenue for the local authority. This would mean fewer cuts to public services. When you are faced with a financial crisis you can either reduce your costs or increase your income. We would strive to do the later.

Local and fair decision making

Under the current system, power is concentrated in the Town Hall in the hands of senior officers and cabinet members. We would establish area committees of ward Councillors to make decisions about Highways Spending, Safer Cleaner Greener activity, regeneration planning and services in their area. We would also ensure a fairer distribution of capital spending across all wards in Calderdale.

Scrapping the undemocratic cabinet system

Calderdale Council has 51 Councillors. Currently just 7 Councillors get to sit on a cabinet that has nearly all the decision-making powers. We would revert the Council back to the committee system, so every Councillor elected to represent an area got to participate in decision making about their community.

Give people power to shape their communities

Neighbourhood Plans give power to local people to shape their communities, for example, in deciding where new housing is built. We want to extend this opportunity to all communities across Calderdale. We would also encourage the establishment of new Town and Parish Councils

Crowd-funding

We believe in empowering people and communities. That is why we would set up a website that allows people to fundraise for small community capital projects.

Community management of assets and services

Where possible we would encourage community management of assets and Council services. This would help to reduce the cost of the Council in maintaining assets and give local people the opportunity to play a role in working with the Council to deliver service

Mutual model for service delivery

It is the role of local Councillors to determine what services are needed, but the details of how a service is delivered would be best achieved by empowering our workforce. We would seek to promote mutual models of service delivery where worker co-operatives delivered more of the services that the Council provides.

Voluntary Overpayments of Council Tax

Westminster Council, and Islington wrote to its residents and asked them if they would be willing to make a voluntary extra payment in Council Tax.  We believe there are many residents in Calderdale who might be willing to support extra services such as youth services, projects to help the disadvantaged, extra improvements to parks and public spaces. We would introduce a voluntary scheme where people could make additional contributions to Council services.

Council lottery scheme

We would work to establish a Council run local lottery scheme. Money raised from the lottery would be used for local good causes within Calderdale.