Todmorden Learning Centre and Community Hub's story
The Todmorden Learning Centre and Community Hub (TLCCH) is the community group which now runs Tod College. The building, formerly Todmorden Community College, was transferred to the community benefit society from Calderdale Council in the Spring of 2021.
The transfer came after five years of campaigning and fundraising by the community to save the building from being bulldozed. The aim of the centre is to create a community space for the benefit of the people of Todmorden. It now offers a rapidly growing range of provision for local people and community groups including opportunities for learning, sports facilities, office, studio, and workshop spaces.
TLCCH aims to provide local young people with the learning and skills they need for jobs in the new green economy. The college has successfully secured National Lottery funds to set up a Climate Challenge College (CCC) as a faculty within Tod College. The CCC is delivering skills training in natural building, agro-ecology and renewable energy systems.
Useful learnings from Todmorden Learning Centre and Community Hub
The people in our town thought it was a shameful waste for a useful community building to face demolition to make way for another supermarket car park. They got together and campaigned for 5 years until the local authority finally gave the building to them as an asset transfer.
During that time there were tensions between those who had a vision of a centre of climate education and those who felt the building should have a more generic focus. The two strands have now been pulled together and strong links made between the need for climate change mitigation and social justice. Neither of these issues can be tackled in isolation - they are intertwined. Our town regularly suffers flooding and it is always those who can least afford it who loose most.
Our message is: 'Don't give up'. Whatever you are working towards or campaigning for may still be a long way away but you have to keep going. The climate crisis can't just be ignored.
Todmorden Learning Centre and Community Hub's metrics
Number of people using the centre each week.
Range and purpose of groups using the centre.
Reduction in energy usage though energy saving measures (Insulation, change to LED lighting, etc.
Weighing landfill and recycled waste.
Volume of re-used and reclaimed building materials during refurbishment.
