About Us

What is HoTTWind@Longley

HoTTWind@Longley is a community benefit society, set up by HoTT  (Holmfirth Transition Town initiative) to run and operate the wind turbine for the benefit of the local community in the Holme Valley. It was incorporated and registered with the FCA as a Community Benefit Society (Registration number 7017) on 6th October 2014. Its registered office is 77 Totties, Scholes, Holmfirth HD9 1UJ, West Yorkshire, UK. A Community Benefit Society is a legal entity. It is owned by its members and operated for the benefit of the community. Members elect Directors to the Board for the management of the Society. Each Member has one vote in a Members meeting, regardless of number of shares held. Annual General Meetings (AGM) are held for Members to hold the Board to account and to hear about the progress and performance of the Society. Members are protected by limited liability and are only obliged to contribute the initial cost of their shares.

What is a transition town?

A transition town (or city area, village, island etc) is a place where people work together to build a more sustainable and resilient local community to combat the impacts of climate change. The status of a place as a ‘transition town’ is not conferred by government but by concerned local residents coming together and, in time, seeking recognition by the Transition Network. HoTT has now achieved this.

There are over 450 officially recognised transition initiatives worldwide in 34 countries – others close to us in Yorkshire are at Marsden/Slaithwaite and Hebden Bridge. Each transition initiative is run independently and, like other such initiatives, we are not affiliated to any faith group or political party.

Where we are

Holmfirth Transition Town Initiative (HoTT) is focused on the Yorkshire town of Holmfirth and surrounding villages located a few miles south of Huddersfield amidst the Pennine hills. Holmfirth is a former wool town and is known to many people as the setting for the Last of the Summer Wine TV series. The town is relatively affluent, but car ownership and longer distance car commuting are both higher than national averages. We also have a lot of older housing.

While formally, we operate within the Holme Valley South Ward of Kirklees Council (population 18,890, in 2011) we are pleased to welcome the involvement of people living nearby. Our boundaries are set by Netherthong and up to Brockholes to the north and Hepworth, Hade Edge and Holme to the south.

How we operate

HoTT is an unincorporated voluntary body with a constitution and we run in an informal and democratic way through a management group that meets bi-monthly. This is open to all.

HoTT has several interest groups focused on specific matters, currently: energy, recycling and community growing – see our website www.hott.org.uk.  All these groups meet regularly and are open to new participants – so do come along.

We have over 350 supporters on our email list – and our number is growing.

More widely, HoTT has developed positive relations with the Holme Valley Parish Council and Kirklees Metropolitan Council. We also have links with other local voluntary bodies and faith groups.

Our history

A small group of us – all local residents – came together in the autumn of 2009 and we held our first public meeting in February 2010.

Since then HoTT has been working to raise awareness of climate change and the emerging shortage of oil that is now widely expected and we are starting to develop sustainable energy and other projects. We have shown and discussed climate change related films, held events on saving energy at home, on making older houses more energy efficient, encouraging more waste recycling and community growing in open spaces.

What we aim to do

Our main aims are to:

  • Help people become more aware of the very real problems of climate change and how changes to our everyday lives can help save money and be good for the planet
  • Strive to make the changes needed in our own lives
  • Lead or support community projects
  • Encourage sustainable living, including local food growing and buying, reduced energy use, low carbon travel, increased recycling and more
  • Connect with other Transition initiatives and with local Government