Review of the Year: 2014 in Bradford and beyond

LOCAL

Bradford’s Irish Club, in Rebecca Street, goes up for sale.

Auditors PKF Littlejohn are appointed by the government to go through the books of Keighley Town Council, following complaints about financial transactions.

On the 6th, work starts in earnest on the Westfield shopping mall (above). The Urban Park is closed to the public as yellow JCBs start digging up the gardens.

Bradford Royal Infirmary’s A&E department is criticised by the Care Quality Commission for overcrowding, delays in assessing injuries, shortage of senior medical staff and incomplete record-keeping for elderly patients.

Leeds-Bradford International Airport voted the best in the UK at the annual Globe Travel Awards.

Last year Bradford Metropolitan Foodbank distributed more than £100,000 worth of food in 7,843 parcels, each parcel being worth between £12 and £15.

Troubled travel firm Thomas Cook announces plans to withdraw administrative office functions from Birkenshaw to Peterborough in the coming year with the loss of up to 150 jobs.

Child rapes and adult rapes in West Yorkshire rose last year to 340 and 467 respectively, compared to 222 and 327 retrospectively in 2012.

Three sets of proposals for the development of the Odeon (above) have been submitted to Bradford Council, now the owner of the building.

On the last day of the month Bradford Bulls go into administration again after talks about transferring ownership from OK Bulls Ltd to a new company, Bradford Bulls 2014, fall through.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Train fares rise by at least 2.8 per cent.

Romanians and Bulgarians are free to enter the UK. UK agrees to accept 1,500 Syrian refugees.

Denver becomes the first US state to legalise the recreational use of marijuana.

Torrential rain, gales and stormy seas cause flooding and damage to both coastal geology and coastal towns in Wales, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

New car sales in Britain topped 2.26m registrations in the last year. But retailers Tesco, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer all report a drop in sales up to the end of December.

The inquest into the shooting dead of unarmed Mark Duggan in Tottenham by the Metropolitan Police in 2011 declares that the killing was not unlawful – to the incredulity of his family and supporters.

UK unemployment fell by 167,000 in the three months to December, says the Office of National Statistics.

Torrential rain over a month, the wettest for at least 100 years, floods 40 square miles of Somerset (above). Locals complain the cause is the lack of river dredging in the area by the Environment Agency.

FEBRUARY

LOCAL

Bradford Council refuses to back the coalition government’s proposed £46 billion high-speed rail line to the north, saying there seems little or no benefit to the Bradford district.

The bishop for the newly formed Church of England Diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales (Bradford, Leeds, Ripon, Huddersfield and Wakefield) is the Bishop of Bradford, the Right Reverend Nick Baines.

Bradford Council to spend up to £1m creating an attractive square at the junction of Kirkgate and Darley Street, intended to be a thoroughfare to and from the Westfield shopping mall.

The proposed £58m scheme for a new magistrates' court and offices near the crown court is scrapped. Instead Bradford Council is to build a custody suite below the existing magistrates' courts to speed up the demolition of what remains of the police HQ on the Tyrls (above).

More than £9m of Bradford Council reserve funds to be released for budget plans over the next two years.

Bradford Council indicates that planning rules for the city centre could be relaxed to combat endemic blight of shops and apartments.

Paul Merton and the band British Sea Power both appear at Ilkley’s first Film Festival.

After public pressure, Bradford Council reverses proposed budget cuts of £3.2m to £1.45m to youth services, retains public toilets and children’s centres threatened with closure, maintains the free city bus for another year and keeps police community support workers at the same level for two more years.

Bradford Council to increase council tax by 1.6 per cent in April with up to 650 local authority jobs being scrapped.

Deeply troubled Bradford Bulls once again in crisis as the club is docked six points by the Rugby Football League and prospective new owners walk out on a deal.

Bradford pianist John Briggs (above) sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for sexual assaults against children.

Bradford Council’s budget will be underspent by £3.7m by the end of the financial year.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

The European Commission says corruption across the EU is rife, costing up to £99 billion a year. Bribery, fraud and organised crime appear to be the main problems.

Violent storms destroy part of the railway at the coastal town of Dawlish in Dorset. On the same day David Cameron pledges £100m for flood alleviation, dredging and storm damage repairs.

Veteran Coronation Street actor William Roache found not guilty at Preston Crown Court of rape and indecent assault. A week later former BBC DJ Dave Lee Travis is found not guilty on 12 counts of indecently assaulting women.

With more rain and storms, part of Worcester city is flooded, as well as areas along the Thames in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Surrey.

Barclays to shed 12,000 jobs, at least 7,000 of them in the UK.

China and Taiwan hold official talks for the first time since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

On the 12th, winds of more than 100mph, driving rain and in places snow lash much of Britain, killing at least one and making widespread flooding much worse.

UK unemployment falls by 125,000 to 2.34 million and inflation goes down to 1.9 per cent.

At the Academy Awards, 12 Years a Slave is voted Best Picture. The Best Actor award goes to Matthew McConaughey (above) for Dallas Buyers Club. Gravity, made in Britain, wins six Oscars.

More than 80 people die and more than 150 are injured after police in Kiev open fire on demonstrators protesting against a Ukrainian government decision to abandon stronger links with the EU in favour of better relations with Russia.

Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych flees after MPs decide to overrule him and call a general election in May. Presidential powers are given temporarily to Oleksander Turchinov.

Uganda outlaws homosexuality and lesbianism to the official consternation of the United States.

Net migration to the UK up to September 2013 rose by 58,000 to 212,000.

MARCH

LOCAL

Bradford councillors claim more than £16,400 for car parking in spite of being allowed free parking at council car parks.

Bradford Council’s executive committee agrees to relax change-of-use planning rules around the Westfield development, giving preference to shops, bars, restaurants, offices and upper-storey apartments. Takeaways, pawnbrokers, betting shops, payday lenders and amusement arcades will have to seek change-of-use permission.

Sainsbury’s applies to open a new supermarket in Main Street, Bingley.

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to spend £346,000 at BRI to improve services for mothers and babies.

Morrisons supermarket chain pledges to invest £1 billion in offering customers lower prices following a reported drop in profits of £176m.

Bradford coroner Peter Straker (above) resigns, suspended on full pay since February last year pending a top-level inquiry by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office into his conduct.

Bradford Council to get £575,000 from £185.5m allocated by the government for repairs to local roads damaged by severe weather. An extra £250,000, saved on gritting through the winter, tops the sum up to £850,000.

On the 25th a 36-year-old mother from Frizinghall, Sobia Yousef, stabbed herself in the throat in Asda supermarket in Shipley and died.

Once again the National Media Museum faces a budget shortfall, this time estimated to be £900,000.

The Yorkshire Bank announces the closure of its Bingley branch on September 4.

Bradford Council salutes retiring Conservative councillor Val Binney, a former Lord Mayor, who has muscle-wasting motor neurone disease.

Leeds businessman Marc Green (above), 48, becomes the sole owner of ailing Bradford Bulls.

Bradford College awarded £10m by the government to build a new advanced technologies centre such as electrical engineering, computer design and will include dental and optical labs.

The lower floors of Arndale House, near Westfield, to be redeveloped into a modern shopping centre called The Xchange.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Russia sends troops to occupy Crimea, prompting British Foreign Secretary William Hague to declare it is the most dangerous crisis of the 21st century.

A Boeing 777 with 227 passengers and 12 crew goes missing without trace over the South China Sea after leaving Malaysia for Beijing. It is believed that the pilot deliberately crashed the aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean.

The people of Crimea vote overwhelmingly in a referendum to be free of the governance of Ukraine and rejoin Russia.

Russia’s President Putin (above) and the leaders of Crimea sign an agreement formalising Crimea’s cessation from Ukraine into the governance of Russia. The European Union and the United States announce limited sanctions against Russian officials.

On the day of Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s budget, the Office of National Statistics announced that UK unemployment was down by 63,000 to 2.33m, with more than 30.19m people in work – the highest figure ever.

More generous Isas for savers and new pensioner bonds due in January next year were announced by the Chancellor. The tax free thresh-hold for workers was raised by £500. A new 12-sided £1 coin was introduced.

On the 21st, the EU and Ukraine sign an interim Association Agreement. The US extends its limited sanctions to more Russian officials. The Crimea is incorporated into the Russian Federation - taken out of the governance of Ukraine.

Inflation falls to a four-year low of 1.7 per cent.

Gay marriages in the UK become legal, although religious organisations maintain the right to not allow them in churches.

APRIL

LOCAL

On the 20th, Easter day, Bradford ceases to be a diocese with its own diocesan bishop. In future, as part of the Diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales, it will have an area bishop.

Bradford’s Hilton hotel is sold for a sum believed to about £2m to the London investment group Mastcraft which already owns nine hotels.

At the 20th Bradford International Film Festival a Lifetime Achievement Award is given to the actor Brian Cox CBE. A Fellowship is given to movie director Sally Potter.

Eccleshill United beat Harrogate Town 1-0 at Valley Parade to win the West Riding County Cup for the first time in the club’s history.

The governing body of Laisteredyke Business and Enterprise College is sacked by Bradfiord Council following a critical Ofsted report expressing concerns about the seondary school’s effectiveness.

Bargain retailer Poundworld opens its third store in Bradford, creating 30 new jobs.

Former Co-op Bank chairman and Methodist minister the Reverend Paul Flowers (above) charged with three counts of drug possession, including cocaine and crystal meth.

Up to 300 construction jobs will be created when work starts on a £120m clean energy complex at Marley, Keighley, later in the year.

West Yorkshire teacher Anne Maguire, 61, stabbed to death at Corpus Christi Catholic College, Leeds. A 15-year-old pupil is arrested.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

April brings air pollution to most of England from the Sahara for two or three days following a big sand storm.

The Dawlish railway line in the West Country, put out of action by the January storms, is repaired and back in operation after eight weeks of round the clock engineering works.

Separatists in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk demand demand a referendum on May 11 on the creation of a Republic of Donetsk. The Ukrainian Government accuses Russia of trying to destabilise the country.

Bailiffs can no longer enter homes at night or use physical force against debtors. In future they must get a court order and tell the court the likely means of entry, the goods involved and the amount of force that might be required. Fixed penalties should prevent bailiffs from adding excessive charges to debts.

Irish President Michael D Higgins pays the first state visit to Britain by an Irish head of state since the Irish Republic was founded in 1922.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller (above) offers a brief apology to Parliament after a committee of MPs orders her to repay £5,400 to the public purse in overclaimed mortgage expenses. The following week, amid mounting pressure from Tory MPs and the media, she resigns.

Co-op bank admits losses of £2.5b for 2013 - its worst result for 150 years.

Two of the UK’s last three deep coal fields in Nottinghamshire and North Yorkshire set to close next year with the loss of 1,300 jobs - unless a buyer makes an acceptable offer.

A South Korean ferry carrying 459 passengers, capsizes, killing at least 300.

Nigerian Islamic fundamentalist group Boko Haram adbucts 286 schoolgirls, declaring that the education of girls is wrong.

Five British servicemen killed in a Lynx helicopter crash in Southern Afghanistan, bringing the total killed to 452 since 2001.

MAY

LOCAL

Bradford City finish the season in Division One with 59 points, just above mid-table. Inspirational captain Gary Jones’ contract is not renewed, however.

Five hundred new homes were built in the Bradford district last year, making it one of the top ten areas in the country for new build, according to the National House Building Council. But more people in work are claiming housing benefit - more than 7,000 compared with just over 4,000 in 2010.

Unemployment falls by 130,000 to 2.23m nationally. In Bradford 16,245 are on Job Seekers’ Allowance - 655 fewer than in March.

Bradford South Labour MP Gerry Sutcliffe (above) announces he won’t be contesting the 2015 General Election.

Over a three-year period, 462 children in Bradford required operations to remove rotten teeth according to Public Health England. This organisation wants drinking water to be fluoridated.

Bradford Council’s Safeguarding Children’s Board told to improve its performance regarding children at risk of harm in a mostly positive Ofsted report which praised the board’s handling of sexual grooming cases.

In the district council elections Dave Green’s Labour Group wins overall control of the council with 46 seats. Tories have 21, Liberal-Democrats eight, Bradford Independents five, Green party three, Independents three, UKIP one, Queensbury Ward Independent one.

Nationally, UKIP win more than160 district council seats with the Tories and Liberal Democrats making overall losses.

Department of Transport to spend £9.5m on two new railway stations, at Apperley Bridge linking Bradford, Leeds, Guiseley and Yeadon, and Kirkstall Forge, on the Leeds line.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Barclays Bank to cut 19,000 jobs world-wide.

Twenty years after Tony Blair introduced the idea of New Labour, the idea is dropped by the party.

Manchester City win the Premier League for the second time in three seasons.

Up to 400 miners are killed and scores injured in an underground explosion following an electrical fault in a privately-owned coal mine in Manisa province,Turkey. Safety issues at privatised mines cause outbursts of public anger.

Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs and England’s Rugby Union World Cup-winning kicker Jonny Wilkinson announce their retirement as players.

The army in Tailand declares martial law and takes over control of all media outlets. This follows months of tension and unrest between the Government and Opposition.

Two bomb attacks in the Nigerian city of Jos kill at least 118 people. The attacks are linked with the Islamic Boko Haram group that abducted 268 schoolgirls in April.

Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi is elected India’s 15th Prime Minister, defeating the Congress Party associated with the Gandhi family.

Celebrity publicist Max Clifford (above), 71, found guilty of eight indecent assaults at Southwark Crown Court and later sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.

Prince Charles reportedly likens the actions of Russia’s President Putin to Adolf Hitler.

Immigration from the EU in the past 12 months up by 200,000, and increase on the 158,000 admitted in 2012.

In the Euro elections UKIP gain 24 MEPs - more than any other single party. Liberal-Democrats lose ten of their 11 seats. In France Marine Le Pen’s National Front did the same, winning 24 seats in the European Parliament.

Deeply troubled Ukraine’s new President is billionaire Petro Poroshenko.

Popes John XXIII and Pope John Paul II are canonised in a joint ceremony in Rome officiated by Pope Francis.

Sinn Fein President arrested and questioned by police in Northern Ireland about the IRA abduction and murder of mother of ten Mrs Jean McConnville in 1972. He is released after four days.

Forty-eight pro-Russia supporters are killed and 200 injured in a fire in a trades union building in Odessa, Ukraine, as conflict continues.

JUNE

LOCAL

Former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan resigns as Chancellor of Bradford University.

Prince William (above), the Duke of Cambridge, visits the youth homelessness charity Centrepoint in West Bowling.

Bradford’s new Lord Mayor is Conservative councillor Mike Gibbons. The Lady Mayoress will be Elizabeth Sharp, a friend.

With more than 47 per cent of adults in Bradford having literacy problems, the district is chosen to link up with the National Literacy Trust to encourage reading and writing, hopefully in English.

Heaton Woods named as England’s top community woodland by the Royal Forestry Society.

Bradford Council estimates that interest in the Tour de France’s Grand depart in Yorkshire has increased foreign tourism and brought in about £30m to the local economy.

Deprived areas of Bradford – Bowling, Barkerend, Bradford Moor and Little Horton – to get nearly £50m in National Lottery money in the form of a series of health and education projects – as part of the Better Start Bradford initiative for young children and mothers.

Bradford University reveals an electronic wheelchair operated by eye movement.

The revival of beer brewing in central Bradford is promised with the announcement of plans to convert the former Shaw’s Moisture Meters building at Westgate into the Bradford Brewery alongside a new pub The Brewfactory, at an initial cost of £400,000.

West Yorkshire Chief Constable Mark Gilmore is suspended by Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson pending an investigation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland into his time as an officer in the Province.

Bradford East Lib-Dem MP David Ward slams the penalty point system for motorists after Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency figures show that 104 motorists in the Bradford 7 area each have 12 or more points on their licence and are still driving.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

The 70th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 are marked with ceremonies in France.

Education Secretary Michael Gove and Home Secretary Theresa May in a public row about suspected Islamic extremism in some schools in Birmingham.

David Cameron’s former director of communications Andy Coulson (above) is jailed for conspiring to hack phones when he was editor of the News of the World.

Spain’s King Juan Carlos announces his abdication in favour of his son Crown Prince Felipe.

Iraqi Government forces abandon the country’s second city of Mosul to Sunni Islamic jihadi group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The US expected to equip the Iraqis with attack helicopters, missiles and drones. Reports come in of hundreds of young Shia men being executed by firing squad.

UK unemployment falls by 161,000 to 2.16m with 1m on Job Seeker’s Allowance. The number on JSA in the Bradford District falls by 617 to 15,628.

President Obama to send 300 special forces into Iraq to assist against the advances of ISIS. Prime Minister David Cameron says they are a threat to the security of the UK.

JULY 

LOCAL

The Tour de France’s Grand depart takes place in West Yorkshire including areas of the Bradford District. Organisers say more than 2.5m watched the event.

Ownership of historic Bradford Playhouse goes up for sale at auction. The guide price is £175,000. It is bought by Shipley theatre fan Colin Fine who said he intends to keep it as a theatre.

Bradford printing firm Global Media Production ceases trading with the loss of nearly 200 jobs.

More than 2,000 jobs are expected to be created in the field of telemedicine over the next ten years by Bradford University’s new multi-million pound enterprise zone which is to include two new centres: a digital design centre in Little Germany and a £7m health and well-being centre on the university campus.

Bradford police pledge to deal with anti-social city centre street drinking with Operation Keyarm - moving people on, patrolling the area and reminding retailers of their statutory responsibilities.

Bradford Cathedral to get £190,000 towards repair and maintenance work from the First World War Centenary Fund set up by the Government.

Bands of caravan-dwelling itinerants move on to various sites in Bradford including Low Moor Cenotaph and Baildon’s Buck Lane business park.

Jane Vincent’s annual Positive Bradford Day is scrapped – due to lack of resources, she says.

Bradford Council’s chief executive Tony Reeves announces his departure to Leeds consultants Deloitte at the end of the year.

Morrisons offload Kiddicare, the online business bought for £70m in 2011, for just £2m.

David Hockney’s painting of his parents in 1977 goes on display on billboards across the country as part of the second Art Anywhere exhibition.

Bradford Council sacks the governing body of Carlton Bolling College following an Ofsted report downgrading the school from “good” to “inadequate”. An interim executive board takes over until new governors are appointed.

Bingley Harriers Alistair (above) and Jonny Brownlee take gold and silver in the triathlon event at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Otley cyclist Lizzie Armistead and Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams also win golds.

Bradford police make 40 city centre arrests of anti-social street drinkers in response to complaints from public and shop keepers.

Seven places in the Bradford district – Lister Park, Peel Park, Roberts Park, Harold Park, St Ives Estate, Central Park in Haworth and Ilkley’s Millennium Green – retain their Green Flag awards denoting excellence.

Andy Welsh is named as the new group chief executive of Bradford College following the retirement of Michelle Sutton after ten years at the top.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Entertainer Rolf Harris (above), 84, is jailed for nearly six years for 12 indecent assault offences against four young girls between 1968 and 1986.

Home Secretary Theresa May announces a public inquiry into allegations of an alleged paedophile ring in Parliament since at least the early 1970s. This follows the revelation that at least 114 known Home Office files on this subject were either destroyed or successfully hidden.

All three houses of the Church of England’s General Synod vote in favour of women bishops.

David Cameron’s drastically reshuffles his Cabinet, getting rid of Michael Gove from Education, Owen Paterson from Environment and William Hague from Foreign affairs.

Police arrest 660 alleged paedophiles, including 21 in West Yorkshire.

A Malaysian airliner with 295 people on board crashes in Ukraine near the border with Russia, on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

The Israeli Defence Force invades Gaza ostensibly to destroy tunnels and rockets used to attack Israel. More than 2,000 Palestinians are killed with more than 60 Israeli soldiers and killed. Seven UN shelters shelled by the Israelis result in scores of deaths.

More than 1,300 British troops are assigned to Nato’s Black Eagle exercise in Poland in what’s thought to be a show of strength against Russia. The EU and America declare greater economic sanctions against Russia affecting replacement parts for oil production, weaponry and investments.

The ebola virus kills more than 670 people in West Africa.

British athletes win a table-topping 175 medals in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

AUGUST

LOCAL

Sajid Raza Hussain, founder of Kings Science Academy (above), on police bail until January on suspicion of fraud, is sacked following an internal disciplinary inquiry. Figures show the Academy, which cost more than £10m to build and costs nearly £300,000 a year in rent to landowners the Hartley Group, is the most expensive free school in the UK.

West Yorkshire Police studying Bradford West MP George Galloway’s public statement that Bradford is an “Israeli-free zone”, that Israelis are not welcome in the city.

Bradford libraries are owed nearly £110,000 in unpaid fines with Keighley the worst at more than £18,000 in readers’ fines.

The Children’s Society and Stepchange, the debt charity, report that more than 8,800 families in Bradford are in debt, owing between them more than £48m.

The Israeli Ambassador Daniel Taub visits Bradford in the wake of Respect MP George Galloway’s online announcement that Bradford was an Israel free zone – a claim subsequently dismissed by leaders of the Council’s three main political parties.

The Reverend Dr Toby Howarth is Bradford’s first-ever Area Bishop in the new diocese of West Yorkshire & the Dales.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

In response to appeals for help, President Obama authorises US air strikes against Isis or Is – Islamic State – in northern Iraq to bring relief to threatened Yazidi and Christian minorities.

Foreign Office Minister Michael Simmonds resigns from the Government, saying he does not intend to defend his seat at the next general election.

Unemployment keeps falling, this time by 132,000, bringing the UK figure to 2.08m.

Inflation falls to a new low of 1.6 per cent, but regulated rail fares are to rise in January, perhaps by 3.5 per cent.

Islamic State claim to have beheaded US Middle East reporter James Foley, who was abducted in Syria in 2012. The jihadist who killed him said to be be from Britain.

A report reveals the abduction, rape, trafficking and brutalisation of up to 1,400 girls in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Social Services staff were afraid to identify the suspects lest they be accused of racism. Three reports warning of the danger were ignored.

Net migration into Britain put at 243,000 in 2013 – up by nearly 70,000 on 2012.

Tory MP Douglas Carswell (above) defects to UKIP, saying he will defend his Clacton seat at a by-election.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary criticise West Yorkshire Police for not classifying 23 cases of rape and other offences as crimes.

SEPTEMBER 

LOCAL

Bradford’s Safeguarding Children Board reports that up to 100 children are at risk from sexual grooming, and 28 men in Keighley are arrested as part of a police campaign against sexual grooming in the area. West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson says 45 out 65 grooming investigations in the county are in the Bradford area.

The Quality of Living Index, which compares the 12 largest UK cities, places Bradford third as the best, most affordable, place to live. Last year Bradford was bottom.

Bradford Council agrees to give the National Media Museum (above) £1m over three years to match a similar amount from the Science Museum Group, to pay for a new interactive exhibition featuring science, technology, engineering and maths.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Isis behead a second American hostage, Steven Sotloff, in retaliation for US air strikes. It also beheads British aid worker David Haines.

Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs vote to defeat the Government on the so-called bedroom tax by a margin of 75 votes.

Scottish people vote ‘no’ to the SNP proposal for independence with 2,001,926 against and 1,617,989 for – a difference of 383, 937.

Former BBC DJ Dave Lee Travis found guilty of an act of indecent sexual assault in 1995.

South African disabled athlete Oscar Pistorius (above) found guilty of culpable homicide over the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Tory MP Mark Reckless resigns his Rochester seat to join Ukip lUp to 300,000 pro democracy supporters demonstrate in Hong Kong against Chinese Government’s decision to choose candidates for the election of a chief executive.

Manchester aid worker Alan Henning beheaded by Islamic State after being abducted in Syria.

OCTOBER

LOCAL

Job seekers in the Bradford District will be obliged to apply for jobs 35 hours a week at the risk of losing benefit in a trial scheme by the government.

National Media Museum starts a partnership with Picturehouse Cinemas to provide films for Pictureville, Cubby Broccoli and IMAX cinemas.

Police admit to having made 126 arrests in a crackdown on drinkers and yobs in the vicinity of City Park.

Bradford retains its Curry Capital of Britain accolade – the fourth consecutive win.

The bodies of Jitendra Lad, his wife, Duksha, and teenage daughters, Trisha and Nisha, are found in their home in Clayton. Police say they are not looking for suspects.

Schools face a backlog of repairs totalling £39m, mostly in primary schools.

Yorkshire Building Society fined £4.1m by the Financial Conduct Authority for not giving proper advice to some struggling mortgage borrowers.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

The RAF bombs Islamic State in Iraq following a vote in favour of military action in Parliament.

Former Tory MP Douglas Carswell wins the Clacton by-election by more than 12,000 votes for Ukip, giving the party its first MP.

The House of Commons votes 274 to12 on a Labour motion to recognise Palestine as a state alongside Israel.

Unemployment falls by 157,000 to1.97m, the lowest since 2008. Inflation falls as well to 1.5 per cent.

Polish man Darak Fydyka, paralysed after a knife attack in 2010, walks again with a frame following a cell transplant.

The killer virus Ebola wipes out thousands in West Africa and reaches the United States, Germany and Spain. British troops are sent to Sierra Leone to build emergency hospitals.

After 13 years, billions of pounds and the death of 453 soldiers, Britain withdraws its military personnel from Afghanistan.

Lloyds to close 200 branches due to the popularity of online banking.

NOVEMBER

LOCAL

More than £11.3m was spent on treating crack cocaine and heroin addicts in 12 months – the highest figure for any part of Yorkshire.

Ryanair announces twice-daily flights to Dublin from Leeds-Bradford Airport in 2015.

Hanson Academy head Elizabeth Churlton sends more than 250 pupils home for infringements of the uniform dress code.

The northern premiere of Randall Wright’s bio-pic Hockney takes place at the National Media Museum to launch the NMM’s partnership with cinema consultancy Picture House.

The T&A announces that the printing of the newspaper is moving from Bradford to Oldham, ending a tradition that goes back to 1868.

Former Conservative Bradford councillor Khadam Hussain and four relatives jailed for nine years and seven years each respectively for conspiring to bring in immigrants illegally. The entertainments venue The Palace in City Road was a front for this fraudulent activity, which netted an estimated £175,000.

National Lottery grants totalling £157m have been paid to Bradford projects since 1994.

Not-for-profit care provider Anchor to phase out nursing care at two residential homes, Springfield in Buttershaw and Ashcroft in Undercliffe, instead offering only residential care.

Tong Labour councillor John Ruding (above) to retire at the district council elections in May after 20 years of service.

A campaign to raise £300,000 for Bradford University’s plastic surgery and burns unit during next year’s 30th anniversary of the 1985 Bradford City Fire disaster to be supported by all Football League and Premiership clubs.

After a two-day multi-agency operation across the Bradford district, police rescue 41 alleged victims of human trafficking and arrest four people on suspicion of fraud and trafficking.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

The teenage murderer of Leeds school teacher Ann Maguire is named as Will Cornick. He is sentenced to life imprisonment.

Violence erupts in central Brussels during a demonstration by 100,000 Belgians protesting against government policy proposals affecting health and social security budgets.

Ed Miliband denies there is a conspiracy by Labour backbench MPs to oust him as Labour Party leader before the 2015 General Election.

The European Court of Justice rules that EU citizens cannot use Human Rights legislation to appeal against rulings barring them from claiming benefits.

Six major banks in UK and US fined £2.6 billion by financial regulators following a multi-national investigation into rigging.

DECEMBER

LOCAL

More than five million passenger journeys were recorded last year at Bradford railway Interchange and Forster Square. There were eight million at Leeds.

Independent education expert Professor David Woods makes 17 recommendations to speed up performance improvements across Bradford’s schools in the wake of a damning annual report by Ofsted showing that schools here were among the worst in the country.

West Yorkshire Fire Brigade chiefs warn that a recruitment freeze of full-time employees since 2009 has left the service without a fire-fighter under the age of 25.

The Home Office admits the number of foreign nationals refused leave to stay in the UK since 2008 stands at 173, 562 – less than 1,000 fewer than in 2011.

Government announces further spending cuts of £20m for Bradford Council for next year. Local authorities in West Yorkshire face cuts of nearly £48m.

Five projects supporting the homeless, young people, cancer patients and their families, people with learning disabilities and people with mental health issues in Bradford, receive grants of nearly £28,000 from the Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of Gannett, US owners of the T&A.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

George Osborne’s autumn statement announces cuts in Stamp Duty with flexible rates for house-buyers at the lower end and higher rates for houses costing £1m-plus.

A report to the US Senate Intelligence Committee slams the CIA’s “brutal” interrogation techniques of terrorist suspects following 9/11 which ultimately achieved nothing to purpose in the US Government’s war against terror.

Up to 141 people including many pupils are killed by the Taliban after an attack on a Pakistani Army school in Peshawar.

A barrel of Brent crude oil falls below $60 bringing further lowering the value of the rouble.

UK unemployment falls by another 63,000 to 1.96m. Inflation is down to just one per cent. The number of official Job Seekers in Bradford fell by almost 600 to 12,422.

Mrs Libby Lane becomes Britain’s first Church of England female bishop. She has been appointed Bishop of Stockport.

The EU Parliament votes 498 to 88 to recognise the state of Palestine. The Gaza Strip’s ruling Hamas Party is removed from a designated list of terrorist organisations.

Florida Republicans react angrily to the move by President Obama and Cuba’s President Raul Castro to ease diplomatic relations and end some trade, travel and educational restrictions.

An out-of-control refuse truck kills six pedestrians in Glasgow’s George Square.

Another black teenager, Antonio Martin, 18, is shot dead by police in the US city of St Louis, Missouri.

Air Asia air bus flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore, carrying 162 passengers, disappears over the Java Sea. A ferry from Greece to Italy catches fire. At least one passenger dies, more than 300 have to be rescued. Train services at Kings Cross and Paddington in London on Boxing Day are cancelled – due to engineering works over-running.