LISTEN TO THE PODCAST TO GET THE FULL STORY AND COMMENTARY FROM LOCAL GOVERNMENT EXPERT PROFESSOR COLIN COPUS (photo credit: Folk and Honey) Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free and support local journalism. Hebden Bridge’s Trades Building is a cherished community icon. For decades it’s been home to the much-loved Trades Club, but recently revealed land-registry documents and newly filed party accounts confirm the building is owned by the Labour Party for the benefit of the Calder Valley Constituency Labour Party (CVCLP). It’s also headquarters of CVCLP and served as campaign headquarters for Josh Fenton-Glynn during his 2024 election campaign. As reported by the BBC in February, for over two decades that ownership, and the rental income it generates never appeared in the local party’s returns to the Electoral Commission. Only this year on 28 March 2025, after informal queries from the regulator, did the CVCLP hurriedly file accounts for 2023 and 2024 admitting the Trades Building in Hebden Bridge is a Labour-owned asset which they now value at £191,157 generating income of £13,445 in 2023, and £14,262 in 2024. Photos show returns to the Electoral Commission for 2024 (with rental income) and 2019 (without rental income) Two months after Labour filed those accounts the Electoral Commission confirmed it had opened a formal investigation into whether the branch breached Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, which requires accurate disclosure of assets and income. That investigation is ongoing. Public grants unlocked by a phantom Community Interest Company But Calderdale Inside Out can now reveal more regulatory woe for the Labour Party. In August 2021 Hebden Royd Town Council’s Community Funding Committee approved a £10,803 grant for an accessibility project in the Labour-owned Trades Building. The Hebden Royd Town Council funding committee that waved through the £10,803 grant in 2021 included three Labour councillors. Council minutes record no declarations of interest—despite all three councillors voting to fund a building owned by their own political party. Under the Localism Act 2011, councillors must declare any financial interest in decisions where they—or their party—may benefit. While political affiliation alone does not automatically trigger a statutory declaration, experts say the approval of public funds for a party-owned building would meet the test for a perceived conflict. No declarations were made. “We risk being crucified in the press” Town Council Funding Committee minutes from August 2021 state the applicant was “a constituted voluntary community group with aspirations to gain CIC status; interest has been registered with Companies House.”. That assurance matters because forming a Community Interest Company (CIC) would have created a legally accountable entity with statutory duties to act in the public interest. It would have provided councillors with a clear governance framework for how the grant would be managed, limiting private or political gain. Without a CIC in place, and with no legal separation from the Labour-controlled Building Management Committee, the safeguards councillors may have assumed existed were never actually established. And when we checked, Companies House confirmed there is no mechanism to simply lodge an interest to create a CIC. The Community Interest Company promised never materialised, and we’ve seen evidence showing the grant cash was paid into the account of the Building Management Committee, a group made up, according to constitution documents seen by Calderdale Inside Out, entirely from members of Calder Valley Constituency Labour Party which manage the Trades Building on behalf of the Labour Party. One former councillor and Labour Party member told Calderdale Inside Out that BMC members were warned at the time that “a fully independent organisation should be applying for this grant” and that if it was discovered “we risk being crucified in the press”. Hollow promises of independence Calderdale Inside Out has also seen an internal email sent by the BMC to the council clerk relating to the grant application in which assurances were given about how an independent organisation had been created and how funds would be ringfenced. The email promises that a separate organisation called “Trades Community Space” had been formed and the grant monies would be for the benefit of this organisation.But the email, dated 6 July 2021, also acknowledged that no lease was in place, saying “In terms of leasing, there currently is not a suitable leasable space for the TCS to occupy. The BMC will enshrine a commitment to offer a lease to the TCS as soon as is practicable.” The promises continued: “The BMC is committed to holding in ring-fenced trust any grant funding received on behalf of the TCS,” But the funds were paid into the account of the Labour-run BMC, and a lease for the refurbished ground floor area was granted to Northern Powerhouse Boxing (a Community Interest Company) in 2024 who have since successfully raised over £300,000 to complete renovations on the Trades Building ground floor and are set to open their doors next month (September 2025). Misrepresentation in charity bid In September 2021, Calderdale-based charity the Community Foundation for Calderdale (CFFC) awarded the BMC £4,700 towards an accessibility project in the Trades Building. The bid, published on the charity’s website, stated: “With the assistance of professional support, we’ve established a CIC, prepared a funding strategy for the wider scheme, and developed a deliverable timed package of work to ensure the project is achievable and viable.” Yet once again Companies House has no record of any such Community Interest Company. Records seen by Calderdale Inside Out show grant monies were paid into the account of the Building Management Committee, which states its objectives as: “The Management Committee shall ensure that the Trades Club is used in accordance with the aims and ideals of the Labour and Trades Union movements and to serve the social needs of the people of the area.” Far from being an independent, community-led initiative, the bid was managed by the same Labour-controlled body that owns the building. Why this matters Under charity law, funds must be used exclusively for charitable purposes.The Charities Act 2011, along with Charity Commission guidance (CC9), prohibits the use of charitable funds to confer more than incidental benefit on a political party. In this case, the public money enhanced a building owned by a political party, and the rent generated from that upgrade now flows into a party-controlled bank account. Nigel Cliffe, Chair of CFFC said: “the CFFC’s grant guidelines do not require that applicants be registered as a CIC or such like legal entities, but rather that registration is noted as preferable…. …. We are confident that the process used to assess the grant was thorough, fair, and accurate which has resulted in the successful completion of the access works requested by the Trades Community Space/Buildings Management Committee. No false claims were identified during our due diligence, but we note that the Trades Community Space/Buildings Management Committee had confirmed at the time that they were a CIC which we now understand is not the case…. this will not affect its eligibility to receive the grant as an unincorporated association.” We contacted The Charity Commission with our findings, and they confirmed to Calderdale Inside Out they had issued CFFC with “regulatory advice and guidance about the rules for charities on political activity and ensuring appropriate due diligence is undertaken when awarding grants.” The Labour Party and Hebden Royd Town Council have been approached for comment. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk
