Talented and Enterprising

“There is no doubt that Calderdale is a beautiful location and is excellently placed between Leeds and Manchester, giving us a great position to work across the North of England and access skills. Sectors throughout the borough need to work together to ensure we make the most of this.

Transport and infrastructure are really important. There are a lot of remote areas in Calderdale, including Craggs Country Business Park, so transport links are vital for employment and trade opportunities. The infrastructure around train and bus stations is critical to bring in employees, suppliers and visitors. I’d especially like to see more parking in and around stations, as a lack of this could limit opportunities.

Education is also a key factor looking ahead to 2024. It’s important that local young people have easy access to further and higher education in Calderdale, as we want to keep skills and talent here to help businesses and the economy continue to thrive.

I’d like to see young people being as ready for work as possible when the time comes for them to enter the workplace. For example, schools could offer more opportunities for young people to learn practical, day-to-day things such as how to go about getting a job and how to operate in the workplace, and to understand the fast-changing nature of modern business.”

“Existing businesses wanting to expand in Calderdale, or new businesses looking to set up here, want to know it’s an enjoyable place to live and spend time, so that their staff want to stay here and new, talented people are attracted to come here. This is not just about jobs – it’s about the wider offer, including the night-time economy and cultural offer – things that make living here more interesting and diverse.

With some 150 businesses and over 4,000 workers on site, Dean Clough’s renown as a business centre shouldn’t disguise the effort that has been put into developing its cultural resource over the last 35 years.

By playing a key role in developing the galleries, the theatre and the performance events here we naturally sought to match the charisma of the buildings with events that would strengthen people’s identification with their place of work.

In the early days none of this would have been possible without the creative input of artistic companies like Northern Broadsides or IOU; or of artists like Doug Binder (who helped found the galleries).

More recently the ‘cultural package’ at Dean Clough has been extended to include award-winning restaurants and micro-brewery outlets, while ‘The Arches’ – which has recently played host to both the Prime Minister and the Prince of Wales – has become one of the locale’s leading event spaces.

What, above all else, has made Dean Clough successful has been the spirit of partnership.

We know that Calderdale has a really vibrant and innovative cultural offer, but we must not be complacent. We should be thinking about how to build on it to make it even bigger and more diverse, to make Calderdale the most attractive place not just to work but to live, socialise and enjoy.”