Bradford Council’s leader has criticised the time it has taken to produce a report into a rise in winter deaths.

The number of people dying in cold and wintry conditions in the district has now reached a 12-year high.

Council leader Councillor David Green said he was concerned that a report into what was being planned this winter to help vulnerable and elderly people stay warm and healthy had only reached councillors in January.

In March last year, the full Council passed a motion calling for the report to be written, to explain what measures were being taken locally to prevent people dying during winter.

But yesterday, Coun Green said he was concerned it had taken ten months for the report to get to them.

He said the reason for the delay had been explained to him, but that it was an example of a wider problem within the Council.

He said: “I understand that pulling information together takes some time. If that’s going to be the case in future, we need to find a way of letting people know that it is not being put in a filing cabinet somewhere.”