Breakaway village wants own parish council

Oakworth villagers, backed by Worth Valley Bradford City Hall Tory Councillor Glenn Miller, want to set up their own parish council.

Campaigners have held the first of a series of door-knocks to collect names for a petition calling for a postal ballot of all villagers.

They need to notch-up support from at least ten percent of the 4,200 residents.

Almost 40,000 ballot forms have already been sent out for the Keighley Town Council referendum, which includes Oakworth village.

The town council will cover Keighley and the communities of Oakworth, Long Lee, Riddlesden and East Morton.

Jacqueline McGinnis, who is leading the Oakworth campaign, said in two hours they had collected 90 signatures.

"We thought that was very good. We need to get about 410 and the amount we collected so far represents about 20 percent.

"We are planning to go out again on a number of other nights. It's important we get on with it quickly."

She said she was supporting an Oakworth parish council bid because she feared the village would lose out if it was included in the Keighley town council area.

"We feel that the deprived areas of Keighley would get priority over Oakworth. And I fear that the town council could become political, which is not what parish councils should be about."

She has called on other villagers who support the campaign to help collect names.

And a petition is to be placed in Oakworth post office in Chapel Lane.

Councillor Miller, pictured, who joined the petitioners, said: "We got a very positive reaction. Only five people wouldn't sign and everybody else said they wanted Oakworth to have its own voice."

If the group get the required number of names, they can get approval for a postal ballot of every home.

The results of that ballot will be sent to Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, who will make the final decision after scrutiny by Bradford council.