50th anniversary of Bradford as a Metropolitan District Council

ALAN CHAPMAN, one of the original 93 Bradford councillors, looks back:

My parents and I left West Bowling to live and work in Bingley in a newsagents shop in 1961. I was 18. I later did sales jobs then, aged 27, spotted an Eldwick newsagents shop for sale, with family help I acquired it.

One of my regular customers was Douglas Bennett, it turned out he was the Hon Treasurer of the Shipley Constituency Conservative Association and knew then MP Marcus Fox and many leading Conservative members.

When news emerged of plans to radically shake up local government and merge small councils close to major authorities, every political Party was searching for candidates to fight the local elections in May 1973. Douglas Bennett asked if I was interested in standing as a Conservative candidate for what is now Bingley ward. After discussions with my parents and fiancee, I accepted the challenge in September 1972. I was the first candidate to step forward, later two sitting Bingley UDC Councillors, Terry Shaw and Margaret Carter, joined me in the Bingley ticket.

Alan's card from when he was a councillor, representing Bingley (Image: Alan Chapman)

The inaugural elections to create the new system of Metropolitan Local Government across the UK were on May 10, 1973. Bradford was one of five major cities in West Yorkshire to go Metro. I came top of the poll, elected for five years. We were electioneering in cold April weather, there was significant interest in the big changes to come and a decent turn-out. The Bingley count was at Drill Hall, Baildon. After the declaration Cllr Terry Shaw and I drove to Conservative Party HQ at Norfolk Gardens Hotel, where I told Party Leader, Cllr John Singleton, the Bingley ward results - there were six Conservative councillors coming to City Hall. He was delighted and announced the news, saying those six seats took our Party over the 50per cent mark and thus meant the Conservatives would control the first Bradford Metro Authority.

Each Party held their political group meeting the following Monday, Party Officers were elected, the new Whips Office under the direction of Leader Cllr John Singleton (Thornton) and Deputy Leader Cllr Arnold Lightowler (Baildon), allocated each Conservative Cllr to serve on a Major Committee and various Panels (the new name for sub-committees). I was on Development Services and Panels Engineering Services (Deputy Chair) plus Development Control (Town Planning) (Deputy Chair). I took the opportunity seriously as I wanted to learn.

Shortly after the start the new Administration Dept produced the Green List, with full details of the new 93 elected members, founder members of the New Council. I was the youngest Conservative Cllr, age 30, of 57 Tory members. Labour Party member Ann Marie Bennett, 29, was the baby of the new Authority.

Alan leading the first Remembrance Service, in Myrtle Park, after Bradford Met was formed in 1974 (Image: Alan Chapman)

Our first responsibility was to agree a structure for the new Authority, then select the Chief Executive (Gordon Moore), and four Directors to fill the four Major Committees - Management (Gerald Hodges), Development Services (Reg Atkinson), Education (Richard Knight) and Social Services (Laurie Jones). Each Major Committee had a number of Panels, each having a Chief Officer, I attended many interview meetings for Chief Officers within my Directorate, once these appointments were agreed, staff at lower levels were dealt with by the new senior Officers.

Six weeks after the inaugural elections, the first meeting of the Interim Bradford Metropolitan Council was held at City Hall. Similar meetings were held every six weeks until we took full control on April 1, 1974.

The panels met once per Council cycle, except Development Control (Town Planning) which was fortnightly due to the volume of applications across the new Metro Area. In those early months the new Panels acted more as an advisory service, final decisions being by the several outgoing Councils. The point of those early meetings was to familiarise and train the new Metro Councillors so they could take full working control in April 1974.

Some 11 months after the inaugural elections the great day arrived - April 1, 1974 the national official start of Metro District Local Government, with full control of all the area incorporated within the new Authority. What a grand occasion; we were making history, there was an air of excitement. Most new councillors present, many senior officers, the public and press galleries full. First business was to install the new Lord Mayor, Cllr Tom Hall, he appeared in full regalia. Our second task was to debate the very first Metro Budget, the Conservative Party won the day, this decision set different rates over each former local government area. Some three or four years later an equal rate was set for the whole Bradford Metro area.

Personally I felt a sense of pioneering responsibility developing the fifth largest local authority in the UK. A truly worthwhile duty, we 93 founder members were privileged to have been selected by the public vote, to look after the population of some 480,000 people in our Metro Area. Everyone was on a learning curve! I estimate over a million local government officers had to secure new employment caused by the seismic adjustments to most local councils in the UK.

I was re-elected in 1978, however the Boundaries Commission intervened, telling the Council it was over represented. In 1980 all councillors were stood down and new elections held with one less ward and three less councillors. I retired from public life to concentrate on my cloth merchant business. I confess I found it difficult to let go of City Hall, I had enjoyed my seven years, dealing with significant responsible public duty. Looking back, it was one of the best parts of my life.