We are aiming to bring the Council Offices back into community ownership so that it becomes a “community hub”. The vision is for this to be the place where local people come for local services – whether provided by the local council or community/voluntary groups. Most importantly, it’s also the base for the local Town and Parish Councils. We are involving local people through a “Friends” group which will have its first AGM in October.

This is a “priority project” for Hebden Bridge in its action plan as a Market Town and from the Upper Calder Valley Renaissance programme which was instigated by Yorkshire Forward, and now overseen by Hebden Bridge Partnership.

We are at the stage of appointing architects to do the detailed design work, and making funding applications for the major building work which we hope will include a Creative Enterprise Centre for people working in IT/digital industries.

This is an exciting project but there’s a lot to do. This week, I’m talking with different Council Depts to find out what staff they need to have based in the building to provide local services.