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Investigations

Council tax payers funded huge festival losses

Council tax payers funded huge festival losses

A Calderdale Inside Out investigation has uncovered Stage at the Lake’s recorded expenditure was more than three times its ticket income. The huge festival budget was greenlit following council decisions to reduce youth work, end discretionary childcare inclusion funding and cut spending on library books. Back in August I

Halifax Town Hall

EXCLUSIVE: Secret audit report exposes “fundamental weaknesses” in council spending controls

Calderdale Council want to keep a damning audit report behind closed doors. We've seen it, and believe the public has a right to know what it found. Calderdale Inside Out has seen a restricted council report revealing “fundamental weaknesses” in the process of procuring and paying for highways

Stage At Lake box office flop: Why did the Council’s Culturedale team spend almost £100K promoting just one event?

Stage At Lake box office flop: Why did the Council’s Culturedale team spend almost £100K promoting just one event?

Calderdale Council admits “Stage At The Lake” required a “significant Council subsidy” after ticket sales fell short of its original business case. The acknowledgement comes after Calderdale Inside Out found almost £100,000 was spent on marketing consultants and advertising for the event. It was meant to be the start

£2.9m car parking surplus: Calderdale admits legal publishing and accounting failures

£2.9m car parking surplus: Calderdale admits legal publishing and accounting failures

Calderdale Inside Out investigation exposes failure to meet government transparency rules and an accounting gap over legally restricted parking money since 2018 This one surprised even us. Calderdale Council has admitted it does not publish the legally required breakdown showing how its parking surplus is spent—and has promised to

A quiet road with two sets of roadworks controlled by traffic lights

Reform announces change to town centre works following dramatic drop in business footfall

Charles Street in the Town Centre will now remain open to general traffic under changes announced by Calderdale’s Reform administration. Harvey’s of Halifax say last two years has been toughest ever. Earlier this week Calderdale Reform announced changes to the planned works in Halifax Town Centre, on their

Ornate stone civic building in Halifax viewed from street level.

EXCLUSIVE: Local government legal expert called in by Calderdale Council.

Following a series of alleged missteps an external legal expert has been appointed to investigate the council’s legal procedures, sources have confirmed to Calderdale Inside Out.

Fallingroyd Road in Hebden Bridge with parked cars and a 30mph speed limit sign.

Big on surplus. Low on plans: we uncover Calderdale's car parking charge regime

Calderdale has turned car parking into a near-£3-million-a-year surplus, the highest per head of population in Yorkshire.