Halifax’s MP is urging Calderdale Council’s leader to provide answers over a decision which has led to a community centre to announce it will shut.

North Halifax Partnership (NHP) says all services and activities currently running at Mixenden Activity Centre (MAC) will end on Friday, October 23 and the centre will close its doors.

NHP – which has been running the centre since it reopened last year – was working with the council when Labour was in charge on a bid to take over the centre permanently via a community asset transfer.

But the organisation says it has been informed that a “political decision has been made" at the now Reform-run council not to proceed with the proposed transfer.

placeholder image — Halifax MP Kate Dearden

"We need to return the keys to the building by Friday, November 20,” NHP posted.

"Sadly, the time required to relocate staff and services, move equipment and clear the premises, means we must bring activities to a close in time for that deadline."

Kate Dearden says she has written to council leader Daniel Sutherland – who is also a ward councillor for Mixenden and Illingworth – asking him to explain why the transfer was blocked and set out the council’s plans for securing the centre’s long-term future.

She says several residents have contacted her with concerns about the future of MAC, and they deserve clarity about what will happen to the centre and “reassurance that the council will take the necessary steps to protect this important community asset”.

She has also asked him for an update on landslip at Prospect Street, which has closed the Halifax road for the last three years.

She has invited Coun Sutherland to attend her forthcoming public meeting on the landslip, alongside senior council officers, as she says residents have raised concerns about a “lack of clear and consistent communication, the action being taken to resolve the landslip and how accountability will be ensured”.

"Residents deserve answers about the future of Mixenden Activity Centre and clear communication about the Prospect Street landslip,” said Ms Dearden.

"They deserve to know their elected representatives are doing everything they can to deliver for them.”

The Courier asked Calderdale Council for information about MAC’s future – and the decision made not to let NHP carry on running it – last week but has yet to receive a response.

The only public council comment relating to the decision has been from Illingworth and Mixenden’s ward councillors – Coun Sutherland, Nikki Kelly and Andrew Tagg – who are all Reform members.

They have urged people to “please be assured, as soon as the licence agreement ends and the keys are handed back, Mixenden Activity Centre will be open for use by the local community, as it should be”.

But they have not said how this will happen, who will be running the centre or any other details.

In August, Ms Dearden said she had contacted Coun Sutherland “a number of times” since Reform took over the running of the council in May but he had not responded to any of her offers to see how they can collaborate.

Today, she says that is still the case.

“My priority is securing the best possible outcomes for local residents,” she said. “I genuinely hope that is what motivates Coun Sutherland, too.

"Almost six months after I first wrote to him, I have still not received a response.

"This isn’t about arranging a meeting for the sake of it. It’s about elected representatives putting political differences aside and working together on the issues that matter to local people.

"I’ve had constructive conversations with other members of the Reform administration, but the council leader’s continued failure to engage makes it harder to raise residents’ concerns directly with him and seek progress.

"My door remains open. I hope Coun Sutherland will respond and work with me in the interests of the people we represent.”

Yesterday the Courier reported how Calderdale Green Party leader Coun Martin Hey was calling on Coun Sutherland to afford MAC “the same level of consultation, scrutiny, and opportunity to explore alternatives” Coun Sutherland previously demanded for Threeways Centre in Ovenden when it faced closure.

He also warned “no council-owned asset can be deemed safe now”.

Calderdale Labour leader Coun Adam Wilkinson says he has written to the council’s cabinet asking for an explanation on why the asset transfer was rejected and assurances on what will happen to the wide range of services that NHP and the centre have been delivering.

“It’s seems that there is no plan and Mixenden families are now going to suffer without the vital community services they’ve come to rely on,” he said.

"They deserve answers.

“It’s very disappointing that Coun Sutherland has repeatedly refused to meet our local MP to address such issues. We should all be working together in the interests of the community, not playing politics.”