Foreword from the Leader and Chief Executive
Home to over 563,600 people, 209,000 households, 16,600 businesses, city, towns and countryside, Bradford District is a special place. Resurgent and increasingly self-assured, it offers unrivalled opportunities to deliver large scale and sustainable growth by unlocking the potential of its young, dynamic population, capitalising on its vast array of cultural talent and heritage, building on its traditions of enterprise, innovation and reform, and harnessing its indomitable community spirit.
The last five years have seen tangible progress made. The city centre has transformed before our eyes, its pedestrianisation showcasing Bradford’s outstanding architecture alongside a growing contemporary cultural offer. One City Park, Darley Street Market and Bradford Live are up and running. The Towns Fund is delivering new investments into Keighley and Shipley, while UK City of Culture has changed perceptions, attracting visitors and investors, and fostering confidence and pride in all corners of the district.
Looking ahead, there remains much more to do. We must go further and faster to raise educational attainment and skills, transform transport infrastructure, build affordable homes and double down on tackling inequality, increasing income and prosperity, and securing better health.
Council leadership, services and investment have played a leading role in delivering the change we have seen in recent years and in supporting people, communities and businesses over the course of the previous Council Plan. Council services touch every walk of life and will continue to be central in shaping our future and delivering success. This Council Plan sets out how we will work to keep delivering progress.
The Council’s staff are its greatest asset; overwhelmingly rooted in the communities that they serve, they typically demonstrate outstanding passion, creativity and commitment, and these attributes will be invaluable as we work to achieve our goals.
As we work to build a happy, healthy, thriving, and prosperous future we will do so within the context of ongoing financial challenges which will require the Council to make significant savings across the course of the plan and transform the way it operates and works.
The Council will need to be smart and creative, agile and collaborative, customer focussed and resilient. We must strive to reflect our corporate values and be brilliant, bold and balanced. These are the qualities which will help to sustain services and achieve our goals. Above all else, we must work together to maximise the impact of our resources in one collective effort as one team and one council.
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council
Lorraine O'Donnell, Chief Executive of Bradford Council