Calderdale


The Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It takes its name from the dale of the River Calder, whose upper part flows through the borough. Several small valleys contain tributaries of the River Calder. The population at the 2011 Census was 203,826.
Calderdale covers part of the South Pennines and is the southern-most of the Yorkshire Dales, though it is not part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The borough was formed by the merger of six former local government districts, spanning, from east to west, the towns of Brighouse, Elland, Halifax, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden. Mytholmroyd, together with Hebden Bridge, forms Hebden Royd.
Halifax is the main commercial, cultural and administrative centre of the borough, with numerous high street chain stores, markets, central library, borough council offices, public transport hub, central police station, its own and the further and higher education college, as well as other major local organisations. Calderdale is served by Calderdale Council, Calderdale's admin headquarters is in Halifax, with some council organisations based in Todmorden.
As of May 2019 Calderdale is a Labour majority run council - the first time this has happened in 20 years. The balance of power is 28 Lab, 13 Con, 7 LD, 3 Ind.

History

The Roman settlement of Cambodunum was probably located within Calderdale. A Roman fort has been excavated in Slack, which is in the neighbouring metropolitan borough of Kirklees, but its identity is not yet certain.
The borough was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by the merger of the then county borough of Halifax, the boroughs of Brighouse, Todmorden and the urban districts of Elland, Hebden Royd, Ripponden, Sowerby Bridge, part of Queensbury and Shelf urban district and Hepton Rural District.

Settlements

As well as the six towns, there are numerous settlements including:
Two selective schools in Calderdale jointly administer an 11+ admissions exam: The Crossley Heath School, in Savile Park and North Halifax Grammar School in Illingworth.
Both schools achieve excellent GCSE and A-level results, achieving a large proportion of A* to C grades at GCSE level. In 2005 the Crossley Heath School was the highest ranking co-educational school in the north of England.
Calderdale College is a local further education college on Francis Street, in Halifax. In December 2006 it was announced that Calderdale College, in partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University, would open a new higher education institution in January 2007 called University Centre Calderdale.

Local government

The borough is divided into 17 wards and each is represented on the borough council by three councillors. Each councillor is normally elected on a first past the post basis for a four-year period which is staggered with the other councillors of that ward so that only one councillor per ward is up for election at any one time. Exceptions to this include by-elections and ward boundary changes.
The wards are:- Brighouse; Calder; Elland; Greetland and Stainland; Hipperholme and Lightcliffe; Illingworth and Mixenden; Luddendenfoot; Northowram and Shelf; Ovenden; Park; Rastrick; Ryburn; Skircoat; Sowerby Bridge; Todmorden; Town; and Warley.
;Mayors of Calderdale
The largest ethnic group within Calderdale at the 2011 census was White British at 86.7%, down from 90.8% in 2001. The next largest ethnic group are Pakistanis, comprising 6.8% of the population.
In 2011, Christians comprised 60.6% of the borough's population. This was followed by those of no religion and Muslims.
In 2019, those who were not born in the UK formed 8% of Calderdale's population.

Public services

Health

Calderdale is part of the Calderdale Primary Care Trust, South West Yorkshire NHS Foundation Trust and Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust. The borough has two hospitals and one hospice. The main hospital is the Calderdale Royal Hospital, located on the main route to Huddersfield in Salterhebble. It has specialist departments: Calderdale's A&E department and the Calderdale Birth Centre. The hospital was built and opened in 2001 on the site of the original Halifax General Hospital. After the new hospital opened, the Royal Halifax Infirmary closed and all services were transferred, as were services from Northowram Hospital. NHS Ambulance services are provided by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service from stations in Halifax, Brighouse and Todmorden. Overgate Hospice provides specialist palliative care for adults in Calderdale. Elland Hospital, Calderdale's only private hospital, is located by the Calderdale Way. Formerly BUPA Elland Independent Hospital, it is now owned and operated by Classic Hospitals.

Police

Calderdale is served by West Yorkshire Police; their Calderdale Division headquarters is at Halifax police station. Other police stations are located in Todmorden and at Brighouse, which reopened in 2009.

Fire and rescue

covers Calderdale and it has six fire stations in the borough. These are located at Brighouse, Elland, King Cross, Mytholmroyd, Illingworth, and Todmorden.

Libraries

Calderdale Libraries provides services through 22 local library branches, including a central library in Halifax, and also offer a home library service and digital library service. In 2014, construction began on a new central library and archive building in Halifax, adjacent to the Piece Hall and the Square Chapel. The new Central Library and Archive officially opened in September 2017.

Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Calderdale.

Individuals