by Calderdale Inside Out
Calderdale Inside Out is the podcast that takes a deep dive into the issues affecting Calderdale. We dig into the documents, and ask the questions that matter. Hosted by Sony and RTS award winning journalist and broadcaster Nick Meir, each episode takes a forensic look at what’s really going on in Calderdale — and why it matters. <br/><br/><a href="https://www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk?utm_medium=podcast">www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk</a>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
5/24/2025
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May 3, 2026
<p>During the local election campaign, you may have seen a rather flattering claim doing the rounds. Starting with local MP Josh Fenton Glynn the news was quickly shared by local election Labour candidates and Labour groups across Calderdale.</p><p>Calderdale, apparently, was one of the best places in England to raise a family.</p><p>Lovely news, you might think. And, on the face of it, exactly the sort of thing any council or political party would want to shout about.</p><p>The problem is the date.</p><p></p><p>When Calderdale Inside Out followed the claim back, it appeared to lead not to a fresh 2026 study, but to research originally published in 2019 by Oxford Home Schooling. That ranking placed Calderdale fourth in England, based on a fairly narrow set of measures: Ofsted ratings, school-place availability and housing affordability.</p><p>Then, in April 2026, the same ranking seemed to pop back up online through a news aggregator site based in Hong Kong. From there, it found its way into local political campaigning.</p><p>And that is where this gets interesting.</p><p>Because this is not really a story about whether Calderdale is a good place to bring up children. Plenty of people would say it is. Many of us live here because we love the place, not because a spreadsheet told us to.</p><p>The more useful question is this: when politicians share a statistic during an election campaign, how much care should they take to check where it came from?</p><p>Especially when that statistic is being used not just as good news, but as evidence of a political record.</p><p></p><p>In the episode, we follow the trail from the original 2019 ranking, through its reappearance online in April 2026, to the way it was shared locally during the election campaign.</p><p>We also look at Calderdale Council’s own more recent performance data. And, as you might expect, the current picture is not quite as neat as a social media graphic.</p><p>Some indicators are moving in the right direction. Others are not. Some put Calderdale in a much less flattering position when compared with similar councils.</p><p>That does not mean the original 2019 ranking was wrong in its own context.</p><p>But it does mean voters are entitled to ask a fairly basic question:</p><p>if a political claim is based on old data, should that be made clear?</p><p>Calderdale Labour has been approached for comment.</p><p>The paper trail</p><p>For anyone who wants to check the sources, these are the key links behind the episode:</p><p>* <strong>The original 2019 article:</strong> Revealed: the best and worst places to raise children in England — Inside Conveyancing / Oxford Home Schooling.<a target="_blank" href="https://insideconveyancing.co.uk/news/revealed-the-best-and-worst-places-to-raise-children-in-england/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Read the 2019 article</a></p><p>* <strong>The April 2026 aggregator article:</strong> Best and worst places in England to raise a family - full list — OB News / Newspoint, published 9 April 2026.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.obnews.co/Index/newsDetail/id/14640545.html?val=dc24285621dc405448a56fcc3d48de6f&utm_source=chatgpt.com">Read the April 2026 article</a></p><p>* <strong>Calderdale Council’s Q3 2025/26 Corporate Performance Report:</strong> the council’s own latest published performance report.<a target="_blank" href="https://dataworks.calderdale.gov.uk/download/e7wpn/e0l/Q3%202025-26%20Corporate%20Performance%20Report%20for%20publishing.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Download the Q3 report</a></p><p>* <strong>The social media post:</strong> screenshot included above.</p><p>* <strong>Who shared the data (from our research): </strong>Cllr Adam Wilkinson; Cllr Sarah Courtney; Cllr Scott Patient; Cllr Kelly Thornham; Stuart Cairney (Labour candidate); Calderdale Labour; Skircoat Labour Councillors; North Halifax Labour.</p><p></p><p>The full story is in the podcast.</p><p></p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk</a>
September 18, 2025
<p><strong>The battle over plans for a vast new wind farm on Walshaw Moor has intensified</strong>.</p><p>The developer has released its EIA Scoping Report for Calderdale Energy Park — a scheme of up to 41 turbines, plus battery storage, roads and cabling, spread across 2,352 hectares of moorland designated as SSSI, SAC and SPA.</p><p>At the same time, one of the UK’s leading peatland experts, Richard Lindsay of the University of East London, has used our podcast to challenge Calder Valley MP Josh Fenton Glynn to publish the evidence he is said to have seen showing that wind farms can be built on peat without harm.</p><p>Campaign group <a target="_blank" href="https://saverestorewalshawmoor.wordpress.com"><strong>Save and Restore Walshaw Moor</strong></a> reported on their blog that, during a recent meeting, the MP told them he had been shown data proving there would be no effect — but that he could not share that data. Lindsay’s response:</p><p><strong>“We should be allowed to see all of these data and the data should be available for scientific scrutiny for scientific review. It’s just environmental data. If the claim is that all these data are commercial and confidence, then that’s a complete nonsense.” - Richard Lindsay</strong></p><p>Josh Fenton-Glynn did not respond to Calderdale Inside Out’s request for comment.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Why peat here is not just “soil”</p><p>Lindsay describes the vegetation growing on peat bog as a natural flood barrier:</p><p><strong>“If you imagine a thick Persian rug placed on a flat table… the water is going to take some time to filter through the rug before it pours off the table. You take that rug away… the water will just shoot straight off the table and down into our valleys.”</strong> - <strong>Richard Lindsay</strong></p><p>Roads cut across that carpet, drying out moss downslope and funnelling water through drains. In his words: “The main infrastructural element… are obviously the roads… because they cut across the entire peatland hydrology.”</p><p>Hebden Bridge flood risk</p><p>The moor drains directly into the Calder Valley, where the <strong>Hebden Bridge Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS)</strong> is already under development. Lindsay says the interaction must be explicitly modelled:</p><p><strong>“If I were in charge of any flood relief scheme, I would be very interested in having data to show me exactly what the implications are for my flood relief scheme.”</strong> - <strong>Richard Lindsay</strong></p><p></p><p>“Floating” roads and fixed buffers</p><p>The scoping report suggests “floating” roads and fixed hydrology buffers of 100–250m. Lindsay is sceptical:</p><p><strong>“Floating roads is a misnomer… these roads don’t float. They sink.”</strong></p><p><strong>“100 metres is just a figure plucked out of the air… just using one number works everywhere is a nonsense.” - Richard Lindsay</strong></p><p></p><p>Carbon payback under doubt</p><p>Lindsay cites the Aberdeen University carbon-calculator team’s later peer-reviewed conclusion:</p><p><strong>“Construction of a wind farm on relatively undisturbed peat produces no net carbon benefit.” </strong></p><p>While Walshaw has been degraded by burning, much of it remains active peat, meaning the carbon balance here is still a live question.</p><p>The evidence gap</p><p>In our interview, Lindsay was blunt:</p><p><strong>“I’ve seen everything from utter catastrophe… through to minor impacts and everything in between. I would love to see that evidence [showing no effect].”</strong></p><p><strong>Richard Lindsay</strong></p><p>Without published monitoring data, he argues, the debate is being conducted in the dark.</p><p>The scoping report stresses the national policy need for renewable energy and commits to:</p><p>* a full Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations Assessment,</p><p>* management plans for peat, lighting, traffic, restoration and monitoring,</p><p>* and off-site compensation/BNG.</p><p>It also notes turbine bases and cables may remain in situ at decommissioning stage</p><p><p>Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></p><p><strong>Who is Richard Lindsay?</strong>Richard Lindsay is Head of the Environmental and Conservation Research Group at the University of East London. He has more than 40 years’ experience studying peatlands, has advised governments and conservation bodies on restoration and climate policy, and is recognised internationally as one of the UK’s foremost authorities on peat hydrology, carbon and biodiversity</p><p></p><p>Coming soon on Calderdale Inside Out</p><p>Earlier this year Calderdale Borough Council granted permission for a highly controversial scheme - the Belmont Waste Incinerator in Sowerby Bridge. Have all the right safeguards been put in place to protect the local population? </p><p>Subscribe and get our next episode as soon as it lands.</p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk</a>
September 14, 2025
<p></p><p>The developers of the proposed Calderdale Energy Park have just released their scoping report — the first official step in the planning process for what could become one of England’s biggest onshore wind farms.</p><p>Their chosen site? Walshaw Moor — a protected blanket bog above Hebden Bridge. A place that stores carbon, regulates water flow, and plays a crucial role in protecting the Calder Valley from floods.</p><p>In our next episode, we sit down with Richard Lindsay, one of the UK’s leading peatland scientists as he responds to the scoping report’s approach to meeting the challenge of building on peat.</p><p>- He warns that infrastructure like roads and turbine foundations are never truly temporary — once you cut into peat, the damage is chronic.</p><p>- He explains why hydrological data from Walshaw Moor should be built into the Hebden Bridge Flood Alleviation Scheme — because changing the sponge on the hilltop could change flood risk in the valley.</p><p>- And he responds to Calder Valley MP Josh Fenton-Glynn, who recently told campaigners it can be acceptable to build turbines on protected peatland, based on evidence he says he has seen but cannot release.</p><p>This is more than a technical planning debate. It’s a clash between political assurances and scientific warnings, with consequences for climate targets, local democracy, and the safety of homes and businesses in the Calder Valley.</p><p>Make sure you are subscribed to Calderdale Inside Out to get the full story when it lands.</p><p><p>Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk</a>
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Calderdale Inside Out is the podcast that takes a deep dive into the issues affecting Calderdale. We dig into the documents, and ask the questions that matter.
Hosted by Sony and RTS award winning journalist and broadcaster Nick Meir, each episode takes a forensic look at what’s really going on in Calderdale — and why it matters. <br/><br/><a href="https://www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk?utm_medium=podcast">www.calderdaleinsideout.co.uk</a>
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