Colum: Councillor Jane Scullion: Buy local this Christmas

But I want you to think this Christmas, about making a pledge to shop locally for your presents, here in Calderdale, where we live.

These days when we all seem to have mobile phones in our hands, it seems so easy to click through and order online. They make it very easy. Mind you, it is not so easy when that lovely top you bought from a very large online retainer gets thrown over your neighbour’s fence by the delivery company and you have the devil’s own job finding out where it ended up! Or when you discover that it doesn’t look anything like it did online and you have the bother of returning it.

Here in Calderdale is the home of a campaign called ‘Totally Locally’. There is now a network of Totally Locally Towns across the world, sharing ideas, working together, and making a difference to their independent businesses. It was started in 2010 by resident Chris Sands, who pointed out that locally owned and locally run shops were important to our high streets and our communities and that if we didn’t use them, then we would be in danger of losing them forever.

He said: “Shop like your High Street depends on it, because it does.”

He also worked out that spending £10 with an independent shop means that up to £50 can go back into our local economy. Totally Locally runs campaigns, like the ‘Fiver Fest’ and the ‘Magic Tenner’, working with towns to attract people back to their local High Street with special offers. Money spent locally is more likely to stay locally.

Independent shops create real local jobs, and help keep money in the local economy, and they pay their taxes.

We are lucky in our six Calderdale towns - Halifax, Brighouse, Todmorden, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge and Elland - because all of them have independent, locally run shops. And we have some lively markets and pop-up Christmas markets as well as workshops; I saw a Christmas wreath making session taking place in Halifax market last week and it was a real pleasure to see.

In Halifax we have the quirky Piece Hall shops, of course, but did you remember that we actually have one of the last few remaining successful independent department stores in the country, Harvey’s of Halifax? Independently owned and run since 1950, it has changed with the times and has all kind of things you won’t find easily elsewhere.

And in Brighouse, where the newly reopened market was looking very fine when I visited a couple of weeks ago, I noted that the town now has not one, but two, art gallery shops. Go Brighouse!

So, if you do most of your Christmas shopping online, then I would say that you haven’t got much right to complain when your local High Street starts struggling. Put down the phone, put your money where your mouth is and pledge to do (at least a bit) of your Christmas shopping locally, here in our beautiful borough.

Merry Christmas.