Keighley people have until February 15 to air their views on the planned Town Council.

Bradford council has proposed one idea for the council's make-up, but wants to hear the public's reaction.

Townspeople and organisations will be able to put forward their own ideas before next month's deadline.

Keighley Area Panel, which is made up of Bradford councillors representing the town, will make a final recommendation on March 13. It wants townspeople to suggest the most suitable name for each voting area and the communities it should cover.

Bradford proposes to split Keighley into 12 wards based around existing polling districts used for council elections.

Residents would be able to elect 30 councillors, with more densely-populated wards getting more councillors than others.

This means that for an electorate of 38,000 adults, there would be one councillor for every 1,100 to 1,600 people.

The boundary would stretch as far as Oldfield, Oakworth, Laycock, Beechcliffe, Riddlesden, East Morton, Long Lee and Hainworth. It would not include Steeton, Eastburn, Silsden, Oxenhope, Haworth, Cross Hills and Stanbury, which are represented by parish councils.

Andrew Mather, Bradford council's elections boss, accepts that polling district boundaries do not always follow natural boundaries, and populations vary greatly.

But he says: "Grouping polling districts into wards attempts, as far as possible, to recognise communities and balance numbers of electors.

"Thirty councillors would strike the right balance between having each member representing a fairly small number of electors, and having an appropriate number of councillors to reflect the size and importance of Keighley within the district."

Mr Mather says using wards allows local ties to be recognised, councillors to get to know their area, and townspeople to know who they represent.

Full details of the council's proposals, including a large colour map, will be on show at Keighley Information Centre in the town hall.

Anyone who wants to comment on them should write to Andrew Mather, Head of Democratic Services, City Hall, Bradford, BD1 1HY, or email andrew.mather@bradford.gov.uk.

The Keighley News will next week set out in detail which communities would be in which proposed ward. We will also outline an alternative list of wards proposed by Keighley Voice, the town council campaign group, and other ideas suggested by readers.