Calderdale Council scales back proposed money-saving cuts

Calderdale Council needs to save £18m over the next three years

A West Yorkshire council has scaled back some of the cuts it had proposed making in a bid to save money.

Labour-run Calderdale Council launched a public consultation into the plans in January after announcing it needed to save £18m over three years.

But after feedback, some plans for adult social care services would change and a rubbish tip would stay open for now, council leader Jane Scullion said.

Councillors are due to decide on the authority's 2024-25 budget on Monday.

Following the consultation, selling the Calderdale Council-owned Shay Stadium, which the authority previously said could save £161,000 from 2025-26, remained a possibility, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A total of 55% of people responding to the council's consultation supported the proposal to sell the stadium, home to Halifax Town FC and Halifax Panthers rugby league club, with 34% against and 11% having no preference.

A total of 55% of people who responded to the consultation supported the sale of the Shay stadium, the council said

However, there was significant support for keeping open the Elland Household Waste Recycling Centre, with more than two-thirds of the 1,510 respondents opposed to its closure.

Ms Scullion said a decision on the site's future would now be delayed.

"We have promised to take no final decision on the site until the end of the year when the resident permit scheme has been in operation and accurate up-to-date usage of the site by Calderdale residents can be assessed," she added.

Under the permit scheme, aimed at preventing people from neighbouring areas using the sites and so reducing some of the council's waste disposal costs, users of Calderdale's five waste sites have to show proof they are a Calderdale resident.

A decision on the future of the Elland Household Waste Recycling site would be delayed, the council said

Other money-saving proposals put to the public in the consultation included increasing fees and charges for services as well as using council reserves.

An additional £1.9m from the government which had been announced to help fund adult social care meant some money could be freed-up to respond to some of the concerns of those who responded to the consultation, the council said.

These include not cutting discretionary special needs inclusion funding for the year, giving time for further review, and reduced savings needed in 2025-26 and 2026-27 from the Targeted Youth Work Team and Youth Justice Team, Ms Scullion said.

She added that the authority had "carefully considered the responses" to its consultation ahead of a making a final decision on possible cutbacks.