Councillors set to approve £2m in new flood defences
Plus, teacher pay rises to be funded by staff cuts
Hello and welcome to the Sunday edition of The Calderdale Lead!
It’s ANOTHER Bank Holiday so I hope you’re all enjoying some down time despite the sunshine not playing ball… yet!
In today’s edition we’ve got details of £2m worth of flood defence work that the council is set to approve across the borough plus concerns from a pressure group that teacher’s pay rises might actually mean a cut in the number of staff due to squeezed budgets.
So, without further ado, on with the news…
New flood defences for Calderdale thanks to £2m of grants
Town Hall chiefs are set to approve nearly £2m worth of flood defence work across Calderdale.
At Calderdale Council’s next Cabinet meeting on Monday 2 June 2025, councillors will be asked to accept external grants worth nearly £2 million to help reduce the impacts of flooding in areas most at risk.
The proposed two-year flood risk management works programme would build on the substantial progress already made to strengthen defences, carry out natural flood management and improve community and infrastructure resilience.
Calderdale’s riverside communities and steep-sided valleys put the borough at a high, ongoing risk of flooding. Over the years, severe floods have caused devastating effects throughout Calderdale, and the impact of climate change makes the risk worse. On Boxing Day 2015 alone, over 3000 properties were flooded.
Calderdale Council and its partner organisations on the Calderdale Flood Recovery and Resilience Programme Board have secured £133 million since 2012.
They have put this to use through projects to help combat flood risk in line with the Calderdale Flood Action Plan.
The Council has identified DEFRA Flood Defence Grant in Aid and the Yorkshire Region Flood and Coastal Committees (YRFCC) Local Levy as the main sources of funding for the new projects.
This would provide nearly £2 million up until 2027, if approved by Cabinet Members and the funders.
Cllr Scott Patient, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Action and Housing, said: “I have heard countless stories of local people and businesses who have faced the devastation and upheaval of flooding in Calderdale. I’ve personally experienced flooding and have family and friends who have too.
“With climate change, the number of properties in areas at risk of flooding from surface water could increase by up to a third between 2040 and 2060. This shows how important it is to continue with our priority to take climate action.
“We know how much flood protection and resilience measures mean to our communities, and we continue to lobby for funding to make these happen. We’ve made great strides in this work as a partnership of organisations and communities, but there is still a lot to do. The proposed further work to strengthen flood defences aims to increase resilience to the impacts of the climate emergency.”
Primary school pay rises could lead to less staff, pressure group fears
Primary schools have been told to fund a pay increase to teachers from their existing budgets and it could lead to staffing cuts, claims a campaigning group.
Calderdale Against School Cuts says a survey of local schools indicates the resulting squeeze on budgets from the settlement may result in some lay-offs unless the Government steps in with some extra cash.
Sue McMahon, spokesperson for Calderdale Against School Cuts said: “Schools will have to find funds from their existing budgets to give teachers the four per cent pay award announced, as the Government has not provided the funds to cover it in full.”
Ms McMahon said the Government has told schools they can find the money through “improved productivity and smarter spending”.
She said: “But after over 14 years of austerity, school budgets are already cut to the bone!
“The tsunami of cuts to local services has left schools having to do more with less, replacing services that they once relied on to support children and young people but without the extra funding.”
She said CASC’s recent findings from a survey of Calderdale primary schools revealed 54 per cent plan to make teachers redundant, 86 per cent think they will not not replace staff who leave, 67 per cent plan to make support staff redundant and 82 per cent cuts to maintenance and repairs.
The CASC survey also indicated 96 per cent were concerned about balancing the school budget for the next three years.
“By not fully funding a pay award, we will see Calderdale schools having to implement further cuts to school budgets over and above those they already faced.
“Having fewer staff will lead to fewer opportunities for children and young people,” said Ms McMahon.
The Government announced the pay increase this week after accepting recommendations from pay review bodies.
That’s it for this edition of The Calderdale Lead.
Enjoy what’s left of the Bank Holiday weekend and we’ll be back on Wednesday!
Andrew