Your council

Bradford: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council: Metropolitan district (unitary), England, Yorkshire and The Humber; part of the WYCA combined authority. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code E08000032.

Council website · Publication scheme

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Bradford for 2026–27: £1,965.28 of a £2,360.73 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 1 opened (1 academy converter), 2 closed (1 academy converter, 1 de-registered)

Ben Rhydding Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: academy converter, 31 August 2026
Training and Skills Centre — closed; reason recorded: de-registered, 22 January 2026
Ben Rhydding Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: academy converter, 1 September 2026

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Bradford reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Bradford: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	£427.7 million
Highways and transport services	£8.6 million
Children's social care	£251.1 million
Adult social care	£215.4 million
Public health	£59.1 million
Housing services (general fund only)	£25.0 million
Cultural and related services	£22.3 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£57.4 million
Planning and development services	£19.7 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£40.6 million
Other services	£52.2 million
Total service expenditure	£1,179.0 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Bradford in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 563,605 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 36 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £18,641 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £560 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 41.8% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 7.2% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £182,766 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 5.4 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 58.2 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for females born in the given year
Male healthy life expectancy: 57.4 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for males born in the given year
Greenhouse gas emissions: 3.2 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 95.5% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 98.5 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 18,630 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

90 seats in 2026. Run by: Reform UK, as a minority administration. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Reform UK 29, Conservative and Unionist 18, Labour Party 17, Your Bradford Independent group 9, Green Party (E&W) 9, Independent / Other 4, Vacant 3, Liberal Democrats 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 90 councillors, by ward

George Buckley (Conservative and Unionist) — Airedale
Peter Kirk (Conservative and Unionist) — Airedale
Raph Cohn (Conservative and Unionist) — Airedale
David Ford (Conservative and Unionist) — Baildon
Debbie Davies (Conservative and Unionist) — Baildon
Ian Eglin (Reform UK) — Baildon
Joe Wheatley (Independent / Other) — Bingley East
Stuart Brown (Reform UK) — Bingley East
Susan Fricker (Labour Party) — Bingley East
Falak Ahmed (Conservative and Unionist) — Bingley West
Geoff Winnard (Conservative and Unionist) — Bingley West
Paul Sullivan (Conservative and Unionist) — Bingley West
Jon Barras (Reform UK) — Bolton & Undercliffe
Md Zafar Niaz (Labour Party) — Bolton & Undercliffe
Suhail Choudhry (Labour Party) — Bolton & Undercliffe
Hassan Khan (Labour Party) — Bowling & Barkerend
Imran Khan (Labour Party) — Bowling & Barkerend
Rizwana Jamil (Labour Party) — Bowling & Barkerend
Ibrar Ali (Your Bradford Independent group) — Bradford Moor
Riaz Ahmed (Liberal Democrats) — Bradford Moor
Zafar Iqbal (Labour Party) — Bradford Moor
Nazam Azam (Labour Party) — City
Sajawal Hussain (Labour Party) — City
Shakeela Lal (Labour Party) — City
Carol Thirkill (Labour Party) — Clayton & Fairweather Green
Daniel Devaney (Reform UK) — Clayton & Fairweather Green
Richard Brown (Reform UK) — Clayton & Fairweather Green
Jayne Morgan (Reform UK) — Eccleshill
John Riley-Holmes (Reform UK) — Eccleshill
Selina Ward-Nicholson (Reform UK) — Eccleshill
Abdul Jabar (Labour Party) — Great Horton
Joanne Dodds (Labour Party) — Great Horton
Vasim Akhtar (Labour Party) — Great Horton
Ishtiaq Ahmed (Your Bradford Independent group) — Heaton & Frizinghall
Khalid Mahmood (Green Party (E&W)) — Heaton & Frizinghall
Nargus Rangzeb (Green Party (E&W)) — Heaton & Frizinghall
Celia Hickson (Green Party (E&W)) — Holme Wood & Bierley
Iain McInnes (Green Party (E&W)) — Holme Wood & Bierley
Matt Edwards (Green Party (E&W)) — Holme Wood & Bierley
Vacancy (Vacant) — Idle & Thackley
Vacancy (Vacant) — Idle & Thackley
Vacancy (Vacant) — Idle & Thackley
Andrew Loy (Conservative and Unionist) — Ilkley & Addingham
Jane Sellers (Conservative and Unionist) — Ilkley & Addingham
Richard Downey (Conservative and Unionist) — Ilkley & Addingham
Amjad Zaman (Labour Party) — Keighley Central
Amjid Ahmed (Independent / Other) — Keighley Central
Vaz Shabir (Your Bradford Independent group) — Keighley Central
Angela Baker (Reform UK) — Keighley East
Angela Fish (Conservative and Unionist) — Keighley East
Caroline Firth (Labour Party) — Keighley East
Andrew Judson (Reform UK) — Keighley West
Dawn Thewlis (Reform UK) — Keighley West
Peter Hill (Conservative and Unionist) — Keighley West
Noor Elahi (Your Bradford Independent group) — Little Horton
Taj Salam (Your Bradford Independent group) — Little Horton
Talat Sajawal (Your Bradford Independent group) — Little Horton
Mohammed Saliss (Your Bradford Independent group) — Manningham
Muhammad Khan (Your Bradford Independent group) — Manningham
Muhammed Islam (Your Bradford Independent group) — Manningham
Chris Masterson (Reform UK) — Queensbury
Ian Evans (Reform UK) — Queensbury
Robin Cumming (Reform UK) — Queensbury
Oliver Bolton-Williams (Reform UK) — Royds
Stephen Place (Reform UK) — Royds
Tony Wooffitt (Reform UK) — Royds
Anna Watson (Green Party (E&W)) — Shipley
Hawarun Hussain (Green Party (E&W)) — Shipley
Kevin Warnes (Green Party (E&W)) — Shipley
John Sharples (Reform UK) — Thornton & Allerton
Lester Martin (Reform UK) — Thornton & Allerton
Melanie Milnes (Reform UK) — Thornton & Allerton
Arshad Hussain (Independent / Other) — Toller
Kamran Hussain (Labour Party) — Toller
Zohair Kamran (Independent / Other) — Toller
Bob Felstead (Conservative and Unionist) — Wharfedale
Lottie Kitching (Green Party (E&W)) — Wharfedale
Peter Cochrane (Conservative and Unionist) — Wharfedale
Darren Ingham (Reform UK) — Wibsey & Wrose
Jason Townend (Reform UK) — Wibsey & Wrose
Steve Burd (Reform UK) — Wibsey & Wrose
Chris Howlett (Reform UK) — Windhill & Wrose
Sally Birch (Reform UK) — Windhill & Wrose
Stephen Broadbent (Reform UK) — Windhill & Wrose
Chris Herd (Conservative and Unionist) — Worth Valley
Paul Golding (Conservative and Unionist) — Worth Valley
Rebecca Poulsen (Conservative and Unionist) — Worth Valley
Adam Thompson-Day (Reform UK) — Wyke
Ian Reed (Reform UK) — Wyke
Ian Walker (Reform UK) — Wyke

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.