Council survey hiccup

Only three days before 450,000 people were due to get their say on the future of Bradford Council, some have not even received their questionnaires.

The deadline for returning the forms was next Monday but this has now been extended until the end of this month due to the problems.

Alan Dalton, policy and executive support director, said: "There were technical problems at the printing stage of the leaflet which led to a delay, and we are looking into this."

Families are being given a say on whether the Council should continue to operate in its existing system, with an executive committee, chaired by the council leader, making key decisions.

They are also getting details about the option of having the district's first elected mayor, who would operate with a manager or an executive committee.

But the consultation exercise has also run into a storm because campaigners who want a referendum on an elected Lord Mayor say the questionnaire being posted to people is "loaded".

They object to a paragraph which asks them how the executive should be chosen if the consultation shows most people would prefer to continue with the existing system.

Jim O'Neill, speaking for the campaign The People's Choice, said the wording would mislead people into thinking that that was the most popular one.

Mr O'Neill described the consultation as a "monumental waste" of public money and said he was making an official complaint to the Council's chief executive, Ian Stewart.

But Coun Richard Wightman, deputy council leader, denied the question was "loaded" and said many outsiders who had seen the consultation documents had praised them.

He said: "I have attended neighbourhood forums where the systems were being described by officers and I have found them flawless in their impartiality."

The Council will submit proposals for a new permanent structure to the Government in July, but is bound by law to take public consultation fully into account.