Resources must be in place to keep up pace on transfer of public buildings to communities in Calderdale, say councillors

Groups taking on buildings the council no longer needs, or cannot afford to keep open, is a preferred option in the borough as they keep places available for the public to use.

Transfers mean the groups taking on the running and upkeep of buildings and are complex – the council has learned lessons from some early projects which ran into problems.

As well as groups receiving advice from the council to help ensure transfers are suitable, the council monitors them closely.

But this has been paused due to lack of resources – through transfers are still progressing – so only a brief update was available for councillors at a meeting of the authority’s property and estate management board.

One may fall through – officers have recently been in discussions with Luddenden Foot Community Association Group, who run Luddenden Foot Civic Centre.

The group has recently received a condition report on the building and are considering handing the building back to the council, due to the works required. Officers are advising them on next steps.

Four other Community Asset Transfers are progressing at Skircoat Library, Halifax, Ripponden Library, Stainland Library and Heptonstall Museum, which are all at different stages of the lease negotiation stage.

Shelf Village Hall and Library is at business case evaluation stage and the business case for Mytholmroyd Library is being clarified.

A community group are in the process of compiling a full business case for Foundry Street, Sowerby Bridge.

Coun Colin Hutchinson (Lab, Skircoat) warned of the dangers of stretched resources, with savings for the council not materialising if transfers did not go through.

“I’m just very conscious that as more emphasis is being put on future community asset transfers that the resources should be put in place to allow those to occur as speedily as possible with due diligence.

“Because particularly with community and voluntary groups a long delay leads to a cooling of enthusiasm, making it very difficult to actually keep the community support throughout what seems to be an unnecessarily long period,” he said.

Officers said community asset transfers are more complicated because they draw on resources from three different council departments, but these needs are factored into the process.

Councillors heard that two posts are set to be filled, which should give the capacity for full monitoring to resume in the new year.

Cabinet member for Resources, Coun Silvia Dacre (Lab, Todmorden) agreed the right resources needed to be in place.

“If the council undertakes to do these things, it’s got to do it properly,” she said.