The Opportunity

The Action Halifax area covers the historic market town centre of Halifax situated in West Yorkshire. The area resembles 5 almost wedge-shaped areas which lead into local communities with Halifax positioned at their heart.

With a distinctive and special character the town displays examples of unique architecture with the magnificent Grade 1 listed, Piece Hall. Equally striking is the architecture and appearance of the former Halifax Building Society now Halifax Bank Of Scotland (HBOS) with its headquarters resting prominently on the town's skyline. With a cultural and industrial heritage of which it is extremely proud of, Halifax is also home to more modern places of interest, such as the country’s leading educational and fun attraction for the under-14’s - 'Eureka! The Museum for Children',

Calderdale as a whole, is set amongst wonderful hills and valleys with excellent access to reach open upland countryside. It is superbly placed with good public transport links to the nearby cities of Leeds and Manchester and is within easy reach of both east and west coasts.

The Action Halifax area covers the following surrounding communities:

Boothtown - Illingworth - Mixenden - Ovenden - Pellon - Siddal - West Central Halifax.

Together the population of the Action Halifax area is about 51,000 of which 10% are from minority ethnic backgrounds.

The Challenge

A medium-sized town, Halifax has a wealth of cultural and physical heritage and sits in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The landscape which is positioned on the doorstep of developed areas offers so much to local people, yet it also presents a real restraint on the opportunities to create new sites for industrial and commercial development.

A once proud industrial town with a thriving market centre, Halifax was showing signs of stress and decay when the SRB Scheme was put together.

The town had serious structural economic problems stemming from the decline of traditional manufacturing industry and accelerated by increasing competition from other centres and out-of-town retail developments, accessible to an increasingly mobile population. In the 11 years up to 1995, Halifax dropped 45 places in the national ranking of town centres in retailing terms. Increasingly, the environment of the town centre was perceived to be run-down and a magnet for anti-social and rowdy behaviour, making it less appealing as a place to shop and spend leisure time.

Action Halifax, with its partners, is supporting comprehensive and co-ordinated action to define a new role for the historic town of Halifax, based on modern economic realities whilst retaining the best features and advantages of its heritage.

The aim is to achieve a sub-regional centre that has re-captured its pride as an exciting place to live and visit, is an attractive place for private investment, and which invigorates the quality of life for all sections of the local community.

We currently support 50 very diverse projects running activity to address all of our Objectives, run by a wide range of organisations including some in the voluntary and community sectors, as can be seem elsewhere on the site.

In encouraging and supporting this change, Action Halifax is working with businesses and residents in the town centre and its local communities