Government measures to cut the amount of housing benefit for households with one or more spare bedrooms will cost one Keighley ward more than £154,000 a year, a councillor has warned.

Jan Smithies (above), who represents Keighley West, said the under occupancy charge – dubbed ‘the bedroom tax’ by opponents – was having a heavy impact on her ward because of the large amount of social housing within its boundaries.

“My ward has the fourth highest number of households affected in Bradford district,” she said. “This is driving many people into rent arrears. Keighley West as a whole will lose £2,968 a week from its local economy – a massive £154,376 a year because of the bedroom tax.

“Most people on low incomes spend their money locally, so these are funds which are no longer going into Keighley West.”

A spokesman for social housing provider Incommunities said: “We estimate that 237 customers in the Keighley area are currently affected by this particular welfare reform.”

The town’s Tory MP, Kris Hopkins, said the government is cutting spending because public cash was wasted in Labour’s 13 years.