When Does Consultation Become Control?
The Fallingroyd Files: What a traffic scheme in Hebden Bridge tells us about power, trust, and silence in local government. NEW Podcast coming soon!
In late April 2025, a senior councillor in Calderdale took to Facebook to celebrate a success: a stretch of Burnley Road between Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge would finally be made safer, thanks to a reduction in the speed limit — a move he attributed to councillor lobbying and safety concerns. The speed reduction was just one small piece in a long running, politically fuelled jigsaw puzzle.
Proposals for making the stretch of road between Fallingroyd and Hebden Bridge safe for cyclists and motorists, by removing all car parking, caused a fair degree of community angst. On the surface councillors claimed they were listening, and the whole scheme (a live issue since 2018) was kicked into the long grass.
But in the background, something else was happening.
A cache of internal Calderdale Borough Council emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Calderdale Uncovered suggest a very different story:
Was a local consultation (despite overwhelming public opposition) spun 180 degrees?
Why did the council’s neighbourhood liaison officer note she was not responding to public letters, due to what she described as an “instruction” from a political leader?
And why a local neighbourhood watch group was left wondering why they never received any replies to their detailed concerns.
This isn’t just a story about a cycle lane or a speed limit. It has become a window into a larger set of questions:
What happens if local consultations are managed more like PR campaigns than democratic conversations?
When councillors start directing what officers can say to the public — who’s really in control?
And if public meetings are cancelled and reframed as drop-ins, is the goal accessibility — or containment?
🎧 Coming Soon a new podcast for Calderdale…
Calderdale Uncovered (S1E1): The Fallingroyd Files
In the first episode of this new podcast, we begin where most people wouldn’t: with parking bays, dropped meetings, and a quiet policy delay — and we ask what those small moves might really reveal about the health of our local democracy.
Is it a scandal? Is it a conspiracy? Is it a disturbing pattern of behaviour?
If you’re interested in power, public trust, and the difference between being heard and being managed — subscribe now to get the first episode as soon as it lands.
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This is very interesting, I look forward to listening, in my opinion consultations are run like PR in most public sector consultations, the decisions are made before the consultation ever starts.
Hi Nick, great article. I think it would be great for you ti take a look at the "Brighouse Pond Quarry Action Group", councillors with no experience in planning passed the in fill of a disused Quarry teaming with Wildlife and in the middle of a residential area, and a green light for 75 houses to be built.
The planning meetings have been a shambles and the safety issues have not been addressed.
It has gained publicity with Newspapers already writing articles on it but with no real depth.
Hope you find it a good opportunity for a compelling story.