City of Bradford

The City of Bradford ⁱ/ˈbrædfəd/ is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Bradford, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Keighley, Shipley, Bingley, Ilkley, Haworth, Silsden and Denholme. Bradford has a population of 501,700,^[4] making it the fourth-most populous metropolitan district and the sixth-most populous local authority district in England. It forms part of the West Yorkshire Urban Area conurbation which in 2001 had a population of 1.5 million^[5] and the city is part of the Leeds-Bradford Larger Urban Zone (LUZ), which, with a population of 2,393,300, is the third largest in the United Kingdom after London and Manchester.^[6]

The city is situated on the edge of the Pennines, and is bounded to the east by the City of Leeds, the south east by the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees and the south west by the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale. The Pendle borough of Lancashire lies to the west, whilst the Craven and Harrogate boroughs of North Yorkshire lie to the north west and north east of the city. Bradford, the urban core is the 11th largest settlement in England, and the contiguous urban area to the north which includes the towns of Shipley and Bingley is heavily populated. The spa town of Ilkley lies further north, whilst the town of Keighley lies to the west. Roughly two thirds of the district is rural, with an environment varying from moorlands in the north and west, to valleys and floodplains formed by the river systems that flow throughout the district. More than half of Bradford’s land is green open space, stretching over part of the Airedale and Wharfedale Valleys, across the hills and the Pennine moorland between. The Yorkshire Dales and the Peak District are both in close proximity.^[7]

The City of Bradford has architecture designated as being of special or historic importance, most of which were constructed with local stone, with 5,800 listed buildings and 59 conservation areas.^[8] The model village of Saltaire has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Central Bradford rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture, particularly wool. The area's access to a supply of coal, iron ore and soft water facilitated the growth of Bradford's manufacturing base, which, as textile manufacture grew, led to an explosion in population and was a stimulus to civic investment. However, Bradford has faced similar challenges to the rest of the post-industrial area of northern England, including deindustrialisation, housing problems, and economic deprivation. Wool and textiles still play an important part in the city's economy, but today's fastest-growing sectors include information technology, financial services, digital industries, environmental technologies, cultural industries, tourism and retail headquarters and distribution. Bradford's reputation as a base for high technology, scientific and computer-based industries is growing, building on a long tradition of innovation, high skill levels and quality products.

Bradford has experienced significant levels of immigration throughout the 19th and 20th centurys.In the 1840s Bradford's population was significantly increased by migrants from Ireland,^[9] particularly rural Mayo and Sligo, and by 1851 about 10% of the population were born in Ireland, the largest proportion in Yorkshire. Around the same time there was also an influx of German Jewish migrants to the town.^[10] In the 1950s there was large scale immigration from Pakistan and to a lesser extent from Poland. Bradford has the second highest proportion of Muslims in England and Wales outside London. An estimated 101,967 people of South Asian origin reside in the city,^[11] representing around 20.5% of the city's population, with this figure projected to rise to 28% by 2011.^[12]

History

Bradford was granted the status of a city in 1897. Bradford was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1847, covering the parishes of Bradford, Horton and Manningham. It became a county borough with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888. The county borough was granted city status by Letters Patent in 1897. Bradford was expanded in 1882 to include Allerton, Bolton, Bowling, Heaton, Thornbury and Tyersall. In 1899 it was further expanded by adding North Bierley, Eccleshill, Idle, Thornton, Tong and Wyke. Clayton was added in 1930.

The current city boundaries date from 1 April 1974, when the county borough of Bradford was merged with the borough of Keighley, the urban districts of Baildon, Bingley, Denholme, Ilkley, Shipley and Silsden, along with the Queensbury parts of Queensbury and Shelf Urban District and the parishes of Addingham, and Steeton with Eastburn from Skipton Rural District. Kildwick was part of Bradford at this time, but has since been moved into the Craven District (part of North Yorkshire).

In October 2007, Bradford was voted the greenest city in the United Kingdom. The city was revealed to have the lowest environmental impact of any British city, in spite of its undeniably large role in the Industrial Revolution. Contrary to popular belief, Bradford's rivers were not polluted beyond redemption during this period in its history, and the streams surrounding the city are now a veritable haven of wildlife. The City of Bradford has areas of green space, and recycling schemes.^[13]

Geography

The City of Bradford is situated on the edge of the Pennines, and is bounded to the east by the City of Leeds, the south east by the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees and the south west by the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale. The Lancashire borough of Pendle lies to the west, whilst North Yorkshire boroughs of Craven and Harrogate lie to the north west and north east respectively. Bradford district has 3636 hectares of upland heathland, including Ilkley Moor where the peat bogs rise to 402 m (1,319 ft) above sea level. Less than 5% of the Bradford district is woodland. Greenspace accounts for 73.8% of the City of Bradford's total area, domestic buildings and gardens comprise 12.1%, and the rest is made up of roads and non-domestic buildings.^[14]

Three river systems serve the City of Bradford, along with 23 km of canal. The Airedale towns of Keighley, Bingley and Shipley lie on the River Aire. The River Wharfe runs through Ilkley and Burley in Wharfedale, and tributaries of the River Calder run through the district. Unusually for a major settlement, Bradford is not built on any substantial body of water. The ford from which it takes its name (Broad-Ford) was a crossing of the stream called Bradford Beck.

Parishes

Most of Bradford is still unparished, but there are parish and town councils for most of the outlying towns and villages in the District. From April 2004, the parishes are:

• Addingham
• Baildon
• Burley
• Clayton
• Cullingworth
• Denholme
• Harden
• Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury
• Ilkley
• Keighley
• Menston
• Oxenhope
• Sandy Lane
• Silsden
• Steeton with Eastburn
• Wilsden
• Wrose

Governance

Parliamentary constituencies

The residents of Bradford are represented in the British Parliament by Members of Parliament (MPs) for five separate parliamentary constituencies. Bradford East is represented by David Ward (Liberal Democrat), Bradford West is represented by Marsha Singh (Labour), Bradford South is represented by Gerry Sutcliffe (Labour), Shipley is represented by Philip Davies (Conservative), and Keighley is represented by Kris Hopkins (Conservative).

The city played an important part in the early history of the Labour Party. A mural on the back of the Priestley Centre For The Arts (visible from Leeds Road) commemorates the centenary of the founding of the Independent Labour Party in 1893.^[15]

Bradford is within the Yorkshire and the Humber European constituency, which is represented by one Conservative, one Labour, one UKIP, two Liberal Democrat and one BNP MEPs. The voting figures for Bradford in the European Parliament election in June 2009 were: Conservative 24.7%, Labour 22.6%, UKIP 14.9%, Lib Dem 13.4%, BNP 9.4%, Green 8.8%.^[16]

Council

In 1974, City Of Bradford Metropolitan District Council was created to administer the newly formed metropolitan borough. The county borough of Bradford was merged with the Borough of Keighley, the Urban Districts of Baildon, Bingley, Cullingworth, Denholme, Ilkley, Shipley and Silsden, along with part of Queensbury and Shelf Urban District and part of Skipton Rural District by the Local Government Act 1972. The Council, which is based at Bradford City Hall in Centenary Square, governs the whole metropolitan district.

The city is divided into 30 Electoral Wards, each ward electing three Councillors. Elections are held in May, where one third of the 90 seats (one for each ward) are contested and the successful candidate is elected for a period of four years.

Electoral wards

The Metropolitan District is divided into 30 Electoral Wards, with each ward electing three Councillors.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of Bradford City council is based on that of the former City and County Borough Council, with additions to indicate the merger of eleven Yorkshire councils.^[49] The boar's head, as in the former city council's crest, refers to the legend of the boar of Cliffe Wood. This was a ferocious wild boar that terrorized the populace and caused much damage to land and property; so much so that the Lord of the Manor offered a reward for anyone brave enough to slay the boar and bring its head to the Manor House. The mural crown is a frequent symbol of local government, but here also suggests a well head.^[50] The stag is derived from the device of the Denholme Urban District Council and the arms of the former Borough of Keighley, but represents the District as a whole. The white angora goat is retained from the former arms, recalling that the wool of this animal was used in the local industries. The roses on the collars refer to the Yorkshire rose and the compartment resembles the area's hills and dales.^[50]

Demographics

As of the 2001 UK census, the City of Bradford had a population of 467,665.^[51] Of the 180,246 households in Bradford, 36.5% were married couples living together, 28% were one-person households, 10.8% were lone parents and 8.4% were co-habiting couples, following a similar trend to the rest of England.^[51] The population density was 1,290 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,341/sq mi) and for every 100 females, there were 92.8 males. Of those aged 16–74, 24.5% had no academic qualifications, lower than the 28.9% in all of England. 11.8% of Bradford residents were born outside the United Kingdom, higher than the England average of 9.2%.^[51]

In 2006, it was estimated that 74.9% of the city's population was White (72.2% White British, 0.7% White Irish and 2.1% as Other White), 2.9% Mixed Race, 20.5% Asian or Asian British, 1.6% Black and 0.6% from other races. 16.8% of the population are of South Asian origin, representing the second highest proportion in England and Wales outside London, in terms of both population (behind Birmingham) and percentage (behind Blackburn with Darwen). Nearly half of all Asians living in Yorkshire and the Humber live in Bradford, with one district, Frizinghall, having the highest concentration of Pakistanis in England and Wales, making up 73% of the local population.^[52] Accordingly, 60.14 of the population of the city identified themselves as Christian in the 2001 census, 16.08 were Muslim, 1.02% Sikhs, 0.95% Hindus and 13.3% were identified as having no religion.^[53] The percentage of Jews, Buddhists and those following other religions each amounted to fewer than 0.5% of the city's population.^[53]

The ONS Regional Trends report, published in June 2009, showed that most of the urban core^[54] and 41% of the district as a whole were among the most deprived in the country, it also showed that 11% of the district as a whole were among the least deprived in the country.^[55] Bradford has one of the highest unemployment rates in England,^[56] with the economic inactivity rates of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups standing at over 50% of the working age population.^[57][58]

The crime rate in Bradford is significantly higher than the national average,^[59] but lower than that of similar cities such as Manchester^[60] or Leeds.^[61] In July 2006, the think tank Reform calculated rates of crime for different offences, relating this to populations of major urban areas (defined as towns over 100,000 population). The study ranked Bradford as the second most dangerous city in England and Wales with 98.3 serious offences per 1,000 population, behind Nottingham.^[62] The city was shown to have the highest level of gun violence in the country with 12.53 crimes per 10,000 residents, followed by Leeds (12.45) and Northampton (10.24), and was amongst the top 5 for incidents of burglary, rape, assault and vehicle crime.^[62][63]

Tourism

The Bradford District contains some of the most visited ‘hotspots’ in the UK and the numbers descending on them are increasing every year.

Brontë Country is an area to the west of Bradford which includes the town of Haworth and the village of Thornton, the birth place of the Brontë sisters.

Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, Ilkley’s Cow and Calf Rocks, Bradford’s National Media Museum, Cartwright Hall, Little Germany, Saltaire village (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and Salts Mill are key attractions that draw visitors from across the globe.

The City of Bradford has also become the first UNESCO City of Film.^[64]

Annual events such as the Bradford Mela, Bingley Music Live, Ilkley Literature Festival, Haworth’s 1940s weekend, Saltaire Festival and special Christmas events take place across the district.

The value of tourism to the district’s economy stands at more than £500 million a year, with an estimated 8.6 million day trips within the district. The impact of this is more than 13,500 jobs supported by the tourism and retail sector.^[65]

Economy

The economy of Bradford is worth around £7 billion, contributing around 8.4% of the region's output, and making the district the third largest after Leeds and Sheffield in Yorkshire & Humber.^[66] Traditionally based on the wool and textile industries, manufacturing is still strong, accounting for around 1 in 5 jobs. The city’s service-sector economy accounts for 77% of the district's 195,000 jobs, with today's fastest-growing sectors including information technology, financial services, tourism and retail headquarters and distribution.^[67] The district is home to a number of large businesses with recognised brands operating on a national and international scale such as Morrisons, Pace Plc and Hallmark Cards. Three of the UK’s biggest financial institutions are based in Bradford: Yorkshire Building Society, Bradford & Bingley Building Society and Provident Financial. It is also home to nationally outstanding cultural businesses, a strong group of new media companies, and a significant national institution in the National Media Museum. Tourism is worth over £400 million to the local economy, and employs over 10,000 people. Bradford’s exports are worth almost £700 million.^[67]

The city’s working-age population has risen by 3.3% since 2000—faster than any UK city outside London, whilst the population of the city itself is growing by twice the national average. Bradford has a younger age profile than the Yorkshire & Humber regional average and the national average, with the younger age groups forming a greater proportion of the population in comparison.^[4] Bradford has been named by research group OMIS as one of the top six cities in the UK equipped for future growth, and the CBI reports that business confidence is higher in Bradford than in the UK as a whole, whilst £1.5 billion of construction work is transforming Bradford in a bid to attract further investment.^[67]

As of the 2001 UK census, Bradford had 326,774 residents aged 16 to 74. 2.5% of these people were students with jobs, 7.6% looking after home or family, 6.1% permanently sick or disabled and 4.5% economically inactive for other reasons.^[68] The City of Bradford has a lower economic activity rate than West Yorkshire, the regional average for Yorkshire and the Humber and the national average. Conversely Bradford has a higher economic inactivity rate than all these areas and also has a lower employment rate.^[69]

Manufacturing is still strong in Bradford and accounts for almost 12% of all jobs, and the city’s service-sector economy accounts for 82% of the district's 192,000 jobs. The entrepreneurial spirit is more present in Bradford than generally in the UK, with start-ups accounting for 12% of the business community.^[67]

Bradford’s GVA is over £6 billion.^[67]

Education

Education in the city is provided for by a number of schools and colleges. State schooling is managed by Bradford local education authority. There are also a number of independent (private) schools, such as Bradford Grammar School and Bradford Girls' Grammar School. Bradford College and the University of Bradford are the main further and higher education providers.

Transport

Public transport in Bradford is co-ordinated by Metro. Most local train services are run by Northern Rail, with longer-distance routes served by Grand Central and National Express East Coast.

Shipley railway station is the hub of the district's railway network, which is served by four lines. The Wharfedale line connects Shipley with Ilkley, Ben Rhydding, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Menston and Baildon railway stations to the north, and Frizinghall and Bradford Forster Square stations to the south. The Airedale Line connects the stations at Steeton and Silsden, Keighley, Crossflatts, Bingley, and Saltaire with Shipley, continuing to either Frizinghall and Bradford Forster Square or to Leeds to the east of the district. Both Bradford Forster Square and nearby Bradford Interchange stations are served by the Leeds-Bradford line routes. Bradford Interchange, via the Caldervale Line, also connects to stations to the south and west.

There are bus stations in Bradford, Ilkley, Keighley and Shipley. The majority of services are provided by First Bradford and Transdev Keighley & District.

The M606, a spur off the M62 motorway, connects the district with the national motorway network. The M606 was originally laid out to reach the centre of Bradford and beyond, but connects instead to the A6177 Bradford outer ring road, making the motorway one of the shortest in the country at less than three miles (5 km) long. Another motorway was planned in the 1970s, envisaging a link between Bradford, the Aire valley in the north of the district and the M65 at Colne, roughly mirroring the existing A650 road. It has since been upgraded to dual carriageway along much of its length, bypassing the towns of Bingley and Keighley. The A658 road passes through a tunnel underneath the main Leeds-Bradford airport runway as it heads north-east from Bradford to Knaresborough.

Leeds Bradford International Airport itself is located in Yeadon, about 10 miles (16 km) to the north-east of the city centre, and has both charter and scheduled flights to destinations within Europe plus Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and the USA. There are connections to the rest of the world via London Heathrow Airport, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

There are also navigable waterways that run through the district. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through numerous towns and villages in the borough, with the Grade I listed Five Rise Locks at Bingley generally considered to be one of the finest feats of canal engineering in the country.^[70] There are also proposals to restore and re-open the Bradford Canal, which closed in 1922, as part of a wider regeneration of the city.^[71]

Twin towns

The City of Bradford, and the various towns and villages that make up the Metropolitan District, have Twin Town and Sister City Friendship Agreements with a number of communities throughout the world.^[72] Each was originally twinned with a place within the City of Bradford prior to its creation in 1974.

See also

• Grade I listed buildings in City of Bradford

Notes

References

• bradfordinfo.com has a range of statistical and other information about the District, and includes a Geographic information system accessible from mapsandstats.com

External links

• City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
• Key Statistics (PDF 1.2 MB) from the 2001 census
• Official Statistics (PDF 1.8 MB) (hint: search for 'Bradford' for pertinent figures)
• Visit Bradford website for visitor information. The site is managed by Bradford Metropolitan District Council