Calderdale Council wants to reduce surplus places in local schools and has produced various options. These include closing down Stubbings Infants School, merging Riverside with Central Street and bussing children up to hilltop schools. After a vigorous campaign waged by parents - Save our Schools, the council has, for the moment, backed down. SOS argued that the council options were produced without taking into consideration the special nature of our area. In packed public meetings, parents have told the Council they want it to think again.
The breakdown of discipline and threatened teachers' strike at the Ridings School in Halifax focused national attention on education in Calderale. Government inspectors have given Calderdale until summer 1999 to get their act together.
Published league tables of secondary school examination results for 16 year olds (GCSE) show all four secondary schools within 5-6 miles of Hebden Bridge performing well below the national average. While it could be argued that these schools suffer to some extent because of the creaming off by Halifax Grammar schools, the catchment area would lead us to expect above average results.
Riverside School, Hebden Bridge's main junior school, was inspected in 1997 and received an extremely damning report which delcared most of its teaching to be well below standard. Given the catchment area and the talent of the local community, this school should be inspiring others with its success.
Yorkshire Water has been relaying pipes for months. When the main road is blocked or has roadworks, the traffic is severely affected. Because of the hills there are often no alternative routes. Drivers have reported taking hours to travel a few miles. Just when Yorkshire Water are coming to the end of their work, Yorkshire Electricity is about to start.
Parking charges have been introduced into one car park. Charges might reduce pollution and the continued increase in traffic and tax tourists.
Those against think parking charges will tax locals too and be bad for Hebden Bridge
businesses. There is a vocal campaign against these charges. However, as parking regulations in Hebden Bridge are rarely enforced - double yellow lines are often fully occupied - the whole debate seems academic.
Opponents of windfarms (Sir Bernard Ingham again) want to keep the moors natural and free from visual pollution.
They think it will destroy the Brontë landscape. Those in favour consider windfarms provide harmless renewable energy and are far less ugly than pylons, street lights
and nuclear power stations. They point out that the Moors aren't natural; men chopped
down the forests which once covered them.
Calderdale Council has plans to move the market from it's existing square to a new site between the Cinema and the Marina on the main road. Many fear that this will cause even greater congestion on an already busy road. Traders are worried that they may lose customers who use their shops when going to and from the market.
Residents of one street in Hebden Bridge have seen the police use CS Gas twice in under a month. In both cases, it was to arrest young men with apparent psychological problems. When the Hebden Bridge Web contacted the police to ask for an explanation, they confirmed that CS Gas is being used as a first resort and not a last one. Meanwhile, local murderers are still free.
Lindsay Rimer disappeared in November, 1994 after leaving the Spar supermarket in the centre of Hebden Bridge. Her body was found months later. Her death shocked our community and the nation. No-one has been charged with this terrible crime. The murders of Mrs. Agnes Ogden of Mytholmroyd and a gay Todmorden business man also remain
unsolved. One also cannot help but remember how long it took to catch
the Yorkshire Ripper. West Yorkshire Police have put lots of hours and
resources into solving these murders but with no result.
