One week on from devastating Boxing Day floods that swamped Calder Valley, the real story is that people galvanized together to save themselves and have been magnificently supported by a wide range of groups from all backgrounds, some of whom have travelled long distances to help.
Throughout Calder Valley, flood relief hubs sprang up immediately in the string of towns and villages, to match volunteer support with requests for help. Continue reading
Here’s a report on around 34,000 visits to this website in 2015, the most popular posts and other stuff about Upper Calder Valley Plain Speaker readers.
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I hope 2016 is a good year for all of us and that this news website helps to voice what matters to people when it comes to social and environmental justice, freedom of speech, fully democratic decision making about public issues and general public spiritedness.
A High Court Judge has told Eshton Gregory Ltd that he won’t accept their appeal against the Planning Inspector’s refusal to allow planning permission for a Sainsbury’s Local on the site of the former Hebden Bridge Fire Station on Valley Road. Continue reading
This is the final update to this post summarising info about the volunteer-run flood relief effort across Calder Valley. I have been updating this post often, to try and keep information about what help is needed and being offered as current as possible. But now (8th Jan) things have changed so much since the initial amazing, volunteer- run emergency response that this is the last update I’ll be making to this post, although I’ll leave it up with material that’s still current after this date. Any new info I’ll post in individual posts. Most recent update: 12 noon Friday 8th Jan. Here is the Calderdale Council Flood FAQs page for info on Council flood relief
Continue reading
Calderdale People’s Assembly delegate Carol Machell reports on the People’s Assembly National Conference, held in London on 5 December 2015.
Among many other motions, the People’s Assembly has adopted the NHS Reinstatement Bill motion and will be working to build support for the Bill in time for its second reading in the House of Commons on 11 March 2016. The Bill aims to restore the NHS as a comprehensive, universal health service that is free at the point of need, fully publicly owned and run and that the Secretary of State has a duty to provide. Continue reading
Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group’s Head of Service Improvement Debbie Graham has said that Todmorden Health Centre belongs to the people of Todmorden.
In fact, it belongs to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) called Assura Group Ltd.
And Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has hired a commercial property development company, BIlfinger GVA, to work out how to bring in new tenants to fill all the unused spaces in Todmorden Health Centre and make it work as the “hub” for the Vanguard/Care Closer to Home scheme. This aims to cut acute and emergency hospital services and replace them with care in the community for frail elderly people and people with chronic illnesses.
Continue readingHigh Court Grants Permission For Challenge To Reduction Of Wythenshawe Hospital Services
Staff at Wythenshawe Hospital and their supporters from the wider community were given the green light to launch a legal challenge of the decision to downgrade the hospital and reduce the surgery services it provides.
The campaign group feels that the decision by the Committees In Common in the Healthier Together programme to choose Stepping Hill Hospital as the fourth specialist site in Greater Manchester was unlawful and instructed lawyers to investigate.
Healthier Together is the Greater Manchester equivalent of the Calderdale and Huddersfield Right Care Right Place Right Time hospital cuts scheme Continue reading
Anyone wanting to ask a question at Calderdale CCG governing body meeting on 10th Dec has until 5pm Tuesday 8 Dec to email it in, to susan.holmes2@calderdaleccg.nhs.uk
The agenda and all the papers for the Gov Body meeting are online here.
There are many questions to ask about Agenda item 8, Changing the hospital services. Continue reading
On Saturday 28th November, hundreds of Halifax shoppers were shocked to discover that global accountancy company Ernst and Young (EY) is calling the shots over the future of Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary – at a budgeted cost to the hospitals Trust of £1m for 3 months work. Continue reading
Growing Futures (formerly Incredible Edible Mytholm) response to the Hebden Royd Neighbourhood Plan consultation.
Thank you for the invitation to respond to the Neighbourhood Plan consultation.
These are the principles and issues that Incredible Edible Mytholm would like to see foregrounded in the Hebden Royd Neighbourhood Plan: Continue reading