More than 2,500 leaflets will drop through letterboxes and 100 posters slapped in windows in the next few days, calling on people to say yes to setting up a new parish council.

The campaign will urge people in the Haworth, Stanbury and Cross Roads areas to support a ballot later this year to gauge support for a Haworth parish council.

Bradford Council has agreed to the ballot following a petition of more than 1,000 names backing the proposal.

A final decision will be made by John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State at the Department of Environment.

At a meeting of Haworth Combined Residents' Action Group last night, Smith Midgley said 40 volunteers would cover the area at the time of the postal ballot.

Action group secretary Clifford Simmonds said: "Raising public awareness is the important issue at present. time. Too many times in past local elections people have not bothered to vote. But this is not about party politics, it is about the future of our community."

The meeting heard that the average council has nine councillors representing a parish of about 1,700 people, with annual revenue expenditure of £15,000.

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