From Pete Keal

Wednesday, 15 September 2010

I have sent the following to Mytholmroyd Community Association (mytholmroyd communityassociation@uwclub.net):

I am writing following the article about the proposed Community Centre Redevelopment published in the Hebden Bridge Times at the end of August.

Unfortunately the Hebden Bridge Times article only gave an outline of the proposals and no information as to where the full proposals could be studied. Since then, copies of ground floor and first floor drawings have been published on www.hebdenbridge.co.uk. I have also looked at your web site: www.mytholmroydcommunityassociation.co.uk that is advertised in your new leaflets, but this has no further information - just a "Web site under construction" holding page.

Given the limited information that is readily available, it is hard to make a fully comprehensive response. However, I would like to raise the following at this stage:

1. At the moment Mytholmroyd Youth Club has exclusive use of a part of the existing Community Centre buildings. In the proposed plans, it appears that the Youth Club area is to be shared with the Scouts, the Playgroup and the relocated Gloucester Function Room. This seems to represent a deterioration in the facilities that would be available to the Youth Club. If the Community Centre building is to be redeveloped, surely the new Youth Club facilities should be at least as good as the present Youth Club rooms, if not better.

2. What plans have been made to house existing activities such as the Playgroup and Youth Club during the proposed redevelopment?

3. Are the proposed new facilities such as the Swimming Pool and the "Health Spa" to be run by Mytholmroyd Community Association, or will they be contracted out to a private operator?

4. Do the full proposals include a strategy to raise the funds needed for the redevelopment, which has been costed as ranging between £3 - £10m? If so, is this strategy publicly available?

5. Do the full proposals include a business plan and / or cash flow forecasts for the redeveloped centre? If so, are these publicly available?

6. Will Mytholmroyd Community Association hold a public meeting to present the details of the Redevelopment proposals as part of its efforts to canvass community opinion?

7. Will Mytholmroyd Community Association adopt a more inclusive approach across the whole community? At present for example, the Association seems to take the view that eligibility to attend General Meetings or to stand for membership of the Association's Management Committee is only available to those who pay £40 per year for Sports Centre membership. While this might possibly be a fair fee for Sports Centre users, such a fee acts as a barrier to membership and involvement for people who do not use the sports facilities. If the proposed redevelopment is to have a chance of succeeding, Mytholmroyd Community Association will need all the friends and allies it can get and can ill afford to discourage community involvement.

I hope you will take these views into consideration and look forward to your response to the questions raised above.

From Emma B

Wednesday, 15 September 2010

I would be delighted to see this improvement to Mythomroyd. However, its would be great to keep the feel of the village and perserve the beauty of this area.

From Dave H

Thursday, 16 September 2010

The Mytholmroyd pool looks great. A much needed boost to the village. So, what's the latest on the Hebden Bridge pool, and the hundreds of thousands of pounds sat in a 'charity' account for a number of years. Can anyone shed any light on exactly what the next step is with that, when we can expect that to happen, and who exactly is responsible for making it happen?

From N Yorke

Thursday, 16 September 2010

For those interested it might be worth reading through one of the previous threads on this site.

The point that I note and have never been entirely comfortable with is that a considerable amount of money (£885,000?) has been raised for this project by the controversial sale/development of land in Hebden Bridge that was being used as a community amenity.

I appreciate the trustee's hands were tied as the money had to go on a swimming pool project and this is the only viable option, but I do think those residents on and around Victoria Road/Spring Grove have lost out.

BTW - I do think the valley will greatly benefit from this facility, I'm just uneasy about the money issue.

From Paul D

Thursday, 16 September 2010

The question about where the money for the swimming pool went is an interesting one, and one to which I don't know the answer, but I know that the land that was allocated for it now has apartments on. What's much clearer though is the lack of political commitment to keep promises that were made to the people of Hebden Bridge. This redevelopment is excellent and much needed, but it's not 'our' pool and shouldn't be sold to us as such.

Our local leisure facilities are pretty poor. For example, although we have one of the best youth football set ups in the county, we only have one (poorly maintained) full size football pitch. We have no rugby or hockey pitches no athletics facilities, no floodlit or all weather playing surface, no tennis or squash courts, no sports centre and no community centre. The list of what we don't have is extensive, and we are a small town, but on top of a lack of provision, is the loss of it. Calderdale sold our existing swimming pool, along with our adult education centre to property developers, it closed youth house. It appears to have an obsession with providing space for things that other people will pay for (i.e. the skate park) but allows things it's actually responsible for rot (i.e. the bowling club and putting green). So it both fails to provide and fails to preserve - it's actually a barrier to increasing participation in sports and leisure activities.

Of course we get by in spite of Calderdale, volunteers run a vast range of activities for young people, and adults also take part in a wide range of sports and leisure activities. Things are usually created and sustained by individuals and local groups, not by local authorities, but they should create the context that enables this. When I joined the scores of other local volunteers building the community centre in Mytholmroyd, we worked in the evenings, at weekends, with bits scavenged from wherever they could be found - but we also enjoyed local political support. Our current elected members, perhaps flush with their gilded 'allowances', appear to spend more time as gatekeepers, restricting or rationing support for local people rather than enabling their activities to flourish and fill the void left by their own strategic failure. For example, they must think that when the people of Dodnaze asked for ten grand to support essential community services they really meant two grand - they were no doubt ticked off soundly for being greedy and told to jolly well go out and make up the shortfall by selling butterfly buns around the estate. They preside over the creation of a service wasteland then undermine those doing all they can to plug the gaps. So, the simple question to our elected representatives remains - where is our swimming pool?

From Dave H

Friday, 17 September 2010

For anyone interested in the /custodians' of the money (according the what appears to be the last full set of account submitted in Dec' 07 to the Charities Commission the balance was £930,000, and call me old fashioned, but that's an AWFUL lot of money...) their charity returns in brief and trustee details can be seen here.

From Paul P

Friday, 24 September 2010

Hi, this pool plan looks amazing. Brilliant! I really hope it goes ahead. MCC has long needed an overhaul, this would no doubt make it an amazing facility likely to be popular with a lot more people.

From Cllr. Richard Marshall

Monday, 6 December 2010

Thank you for your comments. I am sorry we haven't been able to reply earlier but, MCA has only just gone on line. Although I have put a message on Pete's answer phone.

The plans have been circulated throughout Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd, including all the schools and local businesses,the Information Centre and libraries.

The Hebden Royd & District Swimming Pool Association would welcome any comments and suggestions about these proposed developments.
A number of meetings have taken place with the Mytholmroyd scout group to make sure they will be able to operate under the new proposals.
The money obtained from the sale of the land on Valley Road has been invested and currently is over £900.000.

Please keep in touch.

See Hebweb News Item - September 2010