Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood has pledged the district education review will top his priority list as he starts his second year at the helm of the authority.

He has put the controversial £170 million switch from two tier to three-tier education at the top of his agenda as he prepares for a year of radical change when the whole Council structure will also be modernised.

Coun Greenwood said: "We want to deliver the education changes in the most effective, efficient and least disruptive way. "

But amid speculation this week of a major rift in the controlling Labour group, Councillor Greenwood said he had no fears of a split.

He says he is confident the group will work in unity for the good of Bradford, despite the fact that his rival, former ousted leader John Ryan, lost the leadership by just five votes at Labour's annual general meeting.

He has been through a year of turmoil which saw multi-million pound schemes for Vicar Lane collapse, although new developers have stepped in. His plans for modernising Britain's fourth biggest metropolitan authority came under fire amid claims his public consultation was a sham.

And his group's majority was slashed by more than a half at the recent Council elections.

His year of change will start this month when the Council's new Chief Executive Ian Stewart joins the authority.

Mr Stewart,- an ex professional footballer, is currently Director General of the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate with the Department of Social Security in Harrogate. Coun Greenwood wants other Council priorities to include:

The regeneration of the district - not just the big schemes like Odsal Stadium and Vicar Lane but smaller and still important projects. He wants a pragmatic approach, with the emphasis on deliverability after years of "pie in the sky" in the past.

He agrees that it is "urgent" to sort out the Rawson Market crisis, where the main building was partly pulled down 18 months ago. Stallholders say their trade has been decimated because of their transfer to a nearby temporary market more than two years ago. Businesses in the area of the market say they have also been badly hit by lack of passing trade;

Council modernisation. He says no date has been set for implementing a new model after shelving his plans for a Westminster-style cabinet and leader. He has pledged the public will have a say.

But as the group picks up the pieces after a battering in the elections which saw the Tories gain nine seats, and the Liberal Democrats three, the question of whether it will be a mixed party cabinet is still undecided.

Original plans were for an all-Labour cabinet, which would meet without the Press and public present.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.