Community group bids to permanently take over Halifax community centre
The North Halifax Partnership wants to take over the Mixenden Activity Centre - which as shut by Calderdale Council five years ago
Last updated 2nd Dec 2025
A community group is looking to take over the running of an activity centre in north Halifax permanently.
Five years ago Mixenden Activity Centre closed as one of a number of budget measures aimed at saving cash-strapped Calderdale Council around £200,000 a year in running costs.
It was one of a number of public buildings earmarked for sale as part of the council’s ongoing battle to balance the books each year.
However, since closure the Clough Lane building has been partially re-opened and used as the base for some community services including those supporting some key schemes.
These include the Healthy Holidays Programme, which supports less well off families with meals and activities for children during school holidays, and the Play Services Youth Club, which runs sessions open to children aged between five and 14.
The North Halifax Partnership (NHP), which delivers community services in north Halifax and many other parts of Calderdale, has been running the site on an interim basis and is now asking the council to allow it to take over the centre.
When the council’s Cabinet meets on Monday (December 8) councillors will consider the business case the partnership has put together, with the aim of making the centre subject to a community asset transfer.
Similar arrangements have seen public buildings like Heptonstall Museum taken on and run by groups and organisations who take on their upkeep and running costs from the council.
The group has set out its intentions for running the site, looking to rejuvenate it as a community space for a wide range of activities for all ages, with the public helping shape what it will be used for, Cabinet are told.
The range from space for public meetings, physical activity sessions, sessions boosting employment and skills training, Family Hub work – the partnership now runs the Hubs throughout Calderdale – and health and wellbeing sessions.
Internally space is expected to be available for private events, climbing wall activities and a cycle co-operative, while outdoor space will likely see community gardens and allotments developed and the centre will also be a base for outdoor activities such as running and cycling.
Cabinet members are being asked to agree that council officers should work with the group to develop their case, with the aim of bringing it to full business case stage within six months.
After some earlier community asset transfers ran into issues which saw building returned to the council – and sometimes later disposed of – in recent years assessment is more robust to ensure takeovers are viable and sustainable for future years.
Cabinet member for Resources, Coun Silvis Dacre (Lab, Todmorden), believes the partnership’s role working with the council and others on key projects, including running the activity centre following partial re-opening, bodes well.