Category Archives: Buildings & planning

Hebden Bridge Disability Access Forum would like to hear from you!

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Getting out and about can be challenging for many reasons: mental health issues, chronic illness, autism, hearing or mobility impairments, communication difficulties.

Do you identify as disabled, deaf or have a long-term health condition? Do you experience barriers that stop you from fully accessing life in the Hebden Bridge area?

Whatever your personal experience of disability, Hebden Bridge Disability Access Forum (HBDAF) would like to hear from you.

Here’s how to contact them:

Continue reading →

Play to continue undisturbed on Little Park, following productive site meeting with Neighbourhood Officer

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Today Calderdale Council Neighbourhood Officer Andrew Pitts assured Friends of the Little Park,  local councillors and others from the council, that:

  • the toddler swings will not be affected and will remain in use. It is proposed that
  • the ‘fire mans pole’ is taken off the pirate ship and a safety panel put in place while a safety fence is erected 2.6 meters out from the existing fence
  • there will be no other disruption than this.

This is consistent with what Andrew Pitts told Plain Speaker yesterday and it is good to have it confirmed at the site meeting at the Little Park playground on Victoria Road. Continue reading →

Little Park toddler swings and pirate ship are safe from developer’s fencing, says Neighbourhood Officer

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Friends of Little Park on Valley Road Hebden Bridge are collecting signatures for a petition to Calderdale Council, protesting against interference with the playground by developers of the building site that sits right next to the playground.

News emerged recently on HebWeb that:

“from February 2016 a significant part of the Little Park playground is going to be fenced off for approximately 10 months during weekdays 8am-5pm…”

At the Little Park, Steph Jones, mother of a small child, said,

“Parents and children use the Park all the time, it’s the only one in Hebden for little kids now the play cafe on Central Street’s closed down. It needs to stay open all the time.”

Continue reading →

Coalition Government throws local control over building standards onto its Bonfire of regulations

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As a result of the Coalition government’s bonfire of regulations, earlier this year Councils lost an important right to specify higher energy efficiency standards.

For a government committed to a localising agenda, this is odd.

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee criticised this proposal last November, but the Coalition Government turned a deaf ear and went ahead with it.

This coincided with the Coalition government’s decision to wind down the Code for Sustainable Homes. Continue reading →

New School of Natural Building in Attainable Sustainable #Todmorden

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Straw Works, the leading UK company for strawbale building and design,  has launched the School of Natural Building (SNaB) in Todmorden following an increase in demand for their training courses.

Natural materials include strawbales, timber, lime, clay, hemp, sheepswool, woodfibre board, brick, stone and other materials.  Many are plant based materials, usually wi.th low-embodied energy because they are not very processed and often available locally. Continue reading →

#Calderdale Councillor may have to climb protected Mytholmroyd trees to stop them being felled

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Calderdale Councillor James Baker is worried because his neighbours, the new owners of Stocks Hall in Mytholmroyd, have cut down a tree with a Tree Protection Order on it and may be about to fell more protected trees.

Yesterday a Calderdale Council Tree Officer sent a letter telling HBB Relocation Services to stop, but today Cllr Baker can still hear chainsaws buzzing and the Tree Officer has told him that work has already taken place that needed planning consent.

Who owns the recently auctioned property?

To complicate matters for Calderdale Council, it turns out that HBB Relocation Services were just handling the auction of Stocks Hall and don’t own it now.

So it’s possible that the new owner hasn’t even received the letter from the Council Tree Officer.

Cllr Baker is appealing for information about who now owns Stocks Hall. You can email him at Councillor.JBaker@calderdale.gov.uk. Continue reading →

Green buildings in West Yorkshire

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(Re-posted from 2012)

There are some exciting green buildings in West Yorkshire, such as Sandal Magna Primary School in Wakefield. Completed in 2010, the primary school’s built of very thermally efficient timber and locally-sourced brick, and is heated by a ground-source heat pump that’s powered by 100m2 photovoltaic panels. Continue reading →

Hebden Bridge Save Our Shops beats Sainsbury’s in Planning Committee battle this evening

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Protesters from Hebden Bridge who want to save the town’s shops went head to head with Sainsbury’s tonight and won.

Meeting at Halifax Town Hall, Calderdale Council Planning Committee rejected  the shopping giant’s proposal to build in the town on the grounds that Sainsbury’s large delivery lorries could disrupt access, parking and traffic flow.

Sainsbury’s is expected to appeal against the decision.

A local group, SOS – Save Our Shops, has been campaigning for the last 9 months to preserve this ‘totally local’ town. They objected to the planning application at the Planning Committee meeting, along with Calder ward Councillor Dave Young and Hebden Royd parish council mayor, Cllr Jonathan Timbers. Continue reading →

Developer’s detailed plans for Copley Valley housing estate GenR8 controversy

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The Taylor Wimpey exhibition of plans for 149 new houses in Copley Valley was open to the public for one day last week.

This was to allow the public to see the plans that will make up the detailed planning application for the housing development, that was due to go to Calderdale Council on Monday 8th September. Continue reading →