What do voters want from Reform in Calderdale?

New councillors across West Yorkshire will be officially sworn in later, following May's local elections.

Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield are holding their Annual General Meetings, where new leaders will be voted in, cabinet seats dished out and the make up of various committees confirmed.

After sweeping to power in Calderdale, Reform UK have already said one of their priorities is to review the decision to sell the Shay stadium in Halifax to a private businessman, which was approved by the then Labour-led authority last year.

But what else do people living in the area think the new council should be focusing on?

Mother-of-two, Jennifer Boyles, 61, is out shopping in the town with her youngest daughter when she stops to chat.

She tells me: "We don't want to see doom and gloom, we want some positivity in this town."

She said Reform's success earlier this month - when they secured 34 of the 54 seats on the council - had come as a "surprise" to her, as she had thought Labour would hold on to power.

Looking around one of the main shopping streets in Halifax, she said the council should work to bring in more "vibrant" businesses, adding: "We don't need vape shops and charity shops, we need tourism and lovely businesses to come here."

But, she said the main issue for her was a need for "more leisure facilities in the town".

She believes it is something "everyone" would agree with, adding: "We definitely need a swimming pool, this town has been waiting so long for that.

"Everyone has to trail to Sowerby Bridge to use that pool, which is very inconvenient, especially with children with special needs, we are desperate for a swimming pool."

Stephen Lomas, 64, says he wants the new councillors to do more to bring shoppers back into the town centre.

He says the top priority should be to "sort the roads out in Halifax, because it is a bit of a mess".

"If you bring a car into town it takes ages to find a car parking spot and people are not coming in because there is no where to leave a car," he tells me.

Despite backing Reform locally he says he was "surprised" they won a majority on Calderdale Council because Labour "hadn't done a bad job locally".

He puts their success down to a "rebellion vote," saying "people just wanted to see a change in direction".

However, he thinks it would be "totally different at a general election" and voters would revert to how they have traditionally voted.

Julie Hardy, who is out in Halifax with her partner, echoes Jennifer's plea for a new leisure centre and swimming pool for the town.

She also wants the local authority to "sort the litter out", adding: "Where I live the bins have gone missing so there's lots of plastic bags around with litter in them."

She said she was a big fan of Sir Keir Starmer and "loves" what he's doing, adding "we can't keep changing who is running the country - we voted him in for four years and he should have that time".

However, in the local elections she voted for Reform because "Reform means change, and that's what we need for Halifax".

She said she doesn't know if they will make a difference locally but was willing to put her faith in the party.

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