Calder Valley Labour Party under investigation over financial affairs
Plus, campaigners told to resubmit petition against incinerator plans
Hello and welcome to a slightly later edition of The Calderdale Lead.
I hope you’ve had an enjoyable weekend so far, despite the on-and-off rain we’ve been having across the borough.
In this edition we’ve got details of an investigation into the Calder Valley Labour Party over its financial affairs, which relate to its management of the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge.
Plus, we’ve got an update on the protest against the waste incinerator at Sowerby Bridge.
So, on with the news…
Electoral Commission open probe into Calder Valley Labour Party
Calder Valley Labour Party has confirmed it is ‘in dialogue’ with the Electoral Commission over complaints about potential breaches of electoral law.
reported earlier in the week that the Electoral Commission had launched an investigation which it said focused on whether the local party failed to keep proper financial records and whether its treasurer may have committed an offence by failing to submit required accounts on time.That follows a complaint to the Electoral Commission in November last year from Professor Rebecca Boden, a former Labour councillor on Hebden Royd Town Council.
Prof Boden now sits as an independent councillor and previously advised the Labour Party nationally on how VAT could be implemented on private school fees.
She told the BBC in February that the Calder Valley Labour Party had not properly accounted for its ownership and rent earned from the Trades Club bar and music venue in Hebden Bridge.
Under electoral law, branches of political parties with an annual income of over £25,000 must submit their accounts to the Electoral Commission.
Prof Boden believes that if the rental income the local party receives from the Trades Club - which is around £8,000 paid by a seperate co-operative who run the venue - then the threshold for submitting accounts would be met.
The Trades Club is owned by the Labour party nationally but its management rests with the local party.
A senior Calder Valley Labour Party source told The Calderdale Lead today: “We have been in dialogue with the Electoral Commission and continue to work with them to provide clarification on the points they have raised.”
The Electoral Commission is looking at two specific areas according to a letter sent to Prof Boden, which she posted on social media.
The first relates to whether the local party failed to maintain accounting records “sufficient to explain the transactions” of the local party unit while the second - which is a potential criminal offence - is whether the treasurer of the local party “without reasonable excuse” failed to deliver the party’s annual statement of accounts on time.
Calderdale Conservatives have slammed the local Labour party and Calder Valley MP Josh Fenton-Glynn, who uses the Trades Club as his registered address.
They posted on social media: “Local residents deserve transparency, integrity, and accountability.
“Yet both the Calder Valley Labour Party and MP Josh Fenton-Glynn remain silent on this serious matter.
“The local Conservatives will always speak up to defend our local democracy and uphold the standards that residents rightly expect.”
Incinerator protest petition could go back before council
By John Greenwood
A 2,000-signature petition protesting against an incinerator in Calderdale could be submitted again after it was previously rejected due to legal advice.
Coun Ashley Evans (Lib Dem) said he had been contacted by a member of the group opposing the incinerator at Calder Valley Skip Hire’s Belmont site in Sowerby Bridge who said that he was told the petition could not be presented.
“They felt they would be able to bring that to the council to present that information and make their views known.
“He seemed to think he was not allowed to do so.
“If that’s the case, that seems rather strange, as it’s such an important issue for many people in Calderdale, and should it not be something that we do have the opportunity to discuss in full council?” he said.
Responding in the questions-to-Cabinet session at a meeting of the full Calderdale Council, Coun Silvia Dacre, Cabinet member for Resources, said she thought previously when an attempt was made to put in a petition on the topic it was rejected at the time because of legal proceedings which were going on related to the incinerator issue.
“I would suggest the petition is resubmitted and can then be considered in the normal way by (the council’s) Legal and Democractic Services (team),” said Coun Dacre.
Advice on how to do this was on the council’s website, she said.
A complicated history stretching back nearly 10 years has seen Calderdale Council refuse planning permission for the incinerator, and that decision being overturned on appeal to the planning inspectorate.
However, companies also have to have an environmental permit to run the incinerator, and following the company’s initial 2021 application objectors went to law and won the right to a Judicial Review of the council Cabinet’s decision to grant the permit.
After this the permit was quashed, following which the status of the permit application was deemed to be “undetermined” and the company appealed the non-determination.
But Planning Inspector John Woolcock, citing risk to health, dismissed this after an inquiry, effectively refusing it – however, as the law stands companies can lodge further applications, and a second application was granted by the council late last year.
However, objectors are seeking a Judicial Review of this latest decision, which the council has indicated it will contest.
Papers will be placed before a Judge who will decide whether permission is given to proceed to a JR hearing.
That’s it for this edition of The Calderdale Lead.
Don’t forget, if you have a story that you think I should be looking at, drop me a line on calderdale@thelead.uk.
Until Wednesday, have a great week!
Andrew
Use spell check? Seperate ??? Not the first time to see typo or spelling error. Need a proof reader?