As previously stated, we have made a formal complaint to Calderdale Council, as the only initial option open to us to follow a set procedure, prior to any legal challenges we may take, and we are expecting their response in early December.
Since our first statement, we have become aware, through our Freedom of Information requests and direct contact with the government department, that the government handed back control of the Town Deal funding to Calderdale council as early as 2023, under a pilot project called “Simplification Pathfinder”. This gave the council powers to amalgamate numerous ‘Levelling Up’ funds and redistribute them as they saw fit.
It was, therefore, misleading in 2024 to advise us that we needed to go through a Project Adjustment Request (PAR) for the government when inflation affected our costs. In fact, the need for a PAR was superseded by the Pathfinder guidelines.
The Pathfinder guidance in practice negated the powers of the Town Deal Board, too, to make decisions, and it would appear they were also not informed about the shift in control that Pathfinder brought about.
The responsibility for the withdrawal of funding was laid at the door of the Town Deal Board, but it was heavily influenced by the council officers’ apparent judgments of the project’s output delivery.
We believe that this was based on a disproportionate level of scrutiny and evaluation of the project’s costs, in relation to the amount of the funding.
Should the council reject our complaint with no offer of mediation or compromise on funding to allow us to at least return the clubhouse to a usable state, we will continue to challenge the decision’s validity by whatever legal means open to us.
In the meantime, the stakeholders deserve to know that we are determined to provide whatever facilities we can with the resources we currently have. And it is not our intention to walk away from the £200,000 investment already made in the site, as that would truly be a waste of public and charitable funds already spent.
2026 will see new additional funding bids, where available to us. It is our aim to fulfil the 2026 obligations to stakeholders whilst we assess the outcome of any appeal processes and funding bids.
We currently have 7 football teams from the Todmorden Junior Club using the pitches, which is more than in any previous years. We are expecting to host the Agricultural Show for the 4th year and the Paws Dog Show in 2026.
