State of Calderdale assembly

On Thursday 9 February, the State of Calderdale Assembly was held to look at key issues and how to achieve our ambition to make Calderdale the best borough in the north. The event brought together about 100 key representatives from public, private, and voluntary and community sectors across the borough, and was hosted by Calderdale Council at at The MBI Shay stadium in Halifax.

Prior to the event, all delegates were provided with an information resource, giving key information on issues highlighted by the Council’s three priorities of Grow the economy, Reduce inequalities, and Build a sustainable future. The information resource can be found at State of Calderdale .

The keynote speaker was Neil McInroy, Chief Executive of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies. He gave a thought-provoking speech, talking about the need for a new social contract between the public, social and commercial sectors where the social sector has a greater role and where all three sectors work closer together.

All organisations have their own priorities, and the event gave a chance to find out how similar (or not) these priorities are. A series of video interviews with some of Calderdale’s key partners provided information on many of the key priorities. This was followed by an interactive voting exercise for delegates to give one word answers to five questions on their views of Calderdale.

The remainder of the morning consisted of three group discussions around the three themes of ‘Grow the economy’, ‘Reduce inequalities’ and ‘Build a sustainable future’, followed by networking.

The event has given all sectors in Calderdale the opportunity to compare their priorities, discuss how these can be met, identify where there are gaps, and provide opportunities to work together. Targeting our resources together will allow us to work together to make better improvements for the borough of Calderdale.

A summary report of the event is now available at State of Calderdale Assembly conference summary .