Senior executives from leading scientific research company Syngenta spent a day in Dalton recently getting to know the community and councillors.

And Cabinet member Peter McBride, a ward councillor for Dalton, says he has high hopes of the partnership with the company which employs more than 300 people at its Leeds Road site.

He hopes what is achieved will become the model for other wards to use.

At a time of huge cutbacks in council’s financial spend such support could be invaluable.

Clr McBride said: “I am the chairman of the Dalton Wards Community Group and we invited a number of senior Syngenta executives to come and meet us.

“It was a very productive time that we spent together and I have high hopes of what can be achieved together following it.”

Among those taking part was site manager Alistair Conn.

Clr McBride said: “We, the councillors, want to work with Syngenta and community groups to keep services going in the various groups.

“I see this as a model for every ward in Kirklees. We won’t just be asking Syngenta but we will be asking for support from all major firms along Leeds Road.

“This relates to the people who live there and that’s the future.

“We have been trying to build this up for a long time and we need everyone to pull together. If we don’t we will be stuffed!

“Across the authority it will be different for every ward, things will be different for Crosland Moor and Greenhead for example but I think what we are contemplating will be useful as a basic model.

“Obviously, different wards will have different needs but we want to involve everyone, community groups, churches, mosques etc.

“I want to set the ball rolling on this. This is vital for Dalton.”

He said Mr Conn told him: “We take our community role very seriously and what can we do to help?”

Clr McBride said: “My response was that I would like them to ‘adopt’ the ward. That, I think, is the way forward.”

He said he was proud of the many community resources in the area from Moldgreen Rugby Club to Rawthorpe Community Centre and Tolson Museum.

But with council’s budget skinned to the bone and further the fight is on to maintain as many publicly-funded groups and centres as possible.

Syngenta have a long track record in Huddersfield of supporting local, environmental initiatives and doing ‘their bit’ to support the community.

One of the company’s proudest achievements is in supporting the award-winning Dalton Bank Local Nature Reserve – an important wildlife habitat and fantastic educational site for local schools.

Twenty hectares of open land on the edge of Huddersfield have been improved to reveal the natural beauty of the area and encourage its use by local residents and schools for recreation and education.