4.99% council tax rise in Calderdale, with new business park and action on flytipping promised
Calderdale Council has approved its 2026/27 budget
Last updated 25th Feb 2026
Calderdale residents will see a 4.99 per cent rise in their Council Tax when bills for the new council year arrive.
In Band A, which most properties in Calderdale actually fall into, that means an annual bill for £1,601.32, including other levies for police and fire services, and the social care element of the council’s precept – an increase of £77.79 on last year.
Residents who live in parts of the borough which also have parish councils will also pay a varying sum, depending on the authority, on top of that.
In return they will see investment in repairing roads, tackling fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour, a new school for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and in jobs via plans for a new business park at Clifton near Brighouse, and there were measures to protect the most vulnerable residents, said Deputy Leader of Calderdale Council, Coun Scott Patient.
A majority of councillors approved budget recommendations from the council’s Cabinet – Labour’s budget – after a debate lasting more than two and a half hours.
The council budget for 2026-27 will be almost £283 million.
Major investments next year include £844,000 into supporting adult social care and £650,000 towards establishing a business park at Clifton, near Brighouse, £100,000 to boost fly-tipping enforcement, and £150,000 into developing in-house residential homes for looked-after children.
Capital investment includes an extra £4 million a year in each of the next three years to repair roads.
Savings include £2.7 million from budgets across directorates, a step up in fees and charges and more income from commercial property leases.
Coun Patient (Lab, Luddenden Foot) warned that although the Government’s Fair Funding Review would benefit councils like Calderdale financially, there is a likelihood Council Tax rises will still be needed “in the short term” to enable the council can balance its books.
The budget passed for 2026-27 and some elements for the following two years also includes provision for the council to build up its financial reserves, much-depleted over recent years.
Although recognising hard choices occasionally had to be made after 14 years of austerity even if they were unpopular, Coun Patient said that nevertheless: “It’s a budget for the first time in many years that begins to provide hope again that we can really make Calderdale a better place – a positive budget.”
Opposition councillors disagreed, with Liberal Democrat and Green members calling for more support for the vulnerable including restoration of some cuts made to Council Tax support for the poorest residents, and more spending on road repairs, and on tackling fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour.
Their proposals included axing funding for the Trust running Halifax’s famous Piece Hall (Liberal Democrats), believing it should be self-sustaining, and halting the £60 million proposals to develop a business park at Clifton (Greens), which they feel carried “huge risks”.
And Reform UK councillors, whose budget proposals were not put amid a clash with council officers – proposals need to be signed off as financially achievable and viable by senior legal and finance officers who said their submission on the morning of the budget debate meant these could not be properly assessed in the few hours available – also wanted to see more spending in those areas and less on “subscriptions to political groups” and on “accommodating and integrating” asylum seekers and migrants, and raised questions about the Piece Hall funding.
Coun Peter Hunt (Reform UK, Elland) said the five per cent Council Tax increase every year would eventually lead to it doubling over 14 years.
“Can you defend that to the family who feel they have to pay more and receive less?” he said.
But Coun Patient said the council as investing in those areas and others, also aiming to work more efficiently, “full of hope and ambition but also underpinned by prudence and a commitment to good management.”
It did not want to be in the position of other councils across all parties which were in financial difficulty.
“It’s not a budget that plays fast and loose with everything we’ve struggled to achieve so far, it’s certainly not a budget that prioritises ‘nice to haves’ over what’s actually needed for our residents and those that we all look after.
“What is before you tonight is an honest budget that actually balances – it’s a budget that is safe, fit for purpose and decent,” he said.