Earlier this year, a national Sunday newspaper suggested that the Church of England’s Diocese of Bradford was going to be scrapped.

Too few people were attending church services and all too soon – next year perhaps – the 91-year-old diocese was going to be recommended for scrapping or merging by the Dioceses Commission.

One of the Commission’s recommendations does indeed call for the dissolution of West Yorkshire’s three existing dioceses, putting Bradford, Huddersfield and Leeds and Ripon in with Wakefield to form a Diocese of Wakefield.

The Commission’s report stresses the importance of the office of Bishop to Bradford, but adds: “Within this predominantly low-church diocese, there is a desire for episcopacy that is more low-key and even more local.

“While the diocese faces no immediate crisis in terms of sustainability, there is a sense of it ‘just holding its own’; some saw it as already below the critical mass. A significant weight of opinion advocated quite radical change. This would need to combine Bradford’s strengths of smallness and intimacy with more resilient and economic administration… “There was little evidence of Bradford Cathedral exerting an influence or attraction beyond the Diocese of Bradford, and indeed it has found it difficult to reach out beyond Bradford itself to other parts of the diocese.”

According to cathedral statistics for last year, 9,570 people attended the 10.15am Sunday service. Another 6,053 attended special services, while concerts and Art Space events drew 4,893.

In the diocese overall – 129 parishes, 164 churches – the average attendance in 2009 was 8,256. This is in addition to the figure for the Cathedral.

The Commission’s report does not state that the diocese should be abolished because of the presence of more than 85 mosques and Islamic schools in the Bradford district. Ishtiaq Ahmed, spokesman for Bradford Council for Mosques, said, contrary to what some people might think, his organisation would not welcome the disappearance of the diocese as a vindication of the power of Islam’s popularity.

He said: “In areas where there is a large presence of Muslims, people of Christian faith have moved out. The Christian community has changed in some inner-city areas, with church buildings no longer in use.

“We want the church to be strong in inner-city areas. We want all faiths to have a strong visibility, with more and more people looking to the church for guidance and support and to add meaning to their lives.

“We would be very sad to see the diocese disappearing. We look to the Church of England as tremendous allies to keep faith relevant in Bradford. We would say to the Church of England; give the diocese additional support. Any attempt to abandon it would be very sad for Bradford.”

While attendances in older, established Church of England and Roman Catholic churches have been subject to movement of parishioners out of inner-city areas in the past 30 years, the idea that Christianity is evaporating would be contested by organisations such as the neo-charismatic Abundant Life Church and the Sunbridge Road Mission.

The first, formed in 1976, claims a regular attendance of more than 1,000 who come from various parts of the North. The second has had a presence in the inner-city for more than 110 years and offers food and clothing to the hungry and homeless every Wednesday evening.

The shape of Bradford Diocese won’t be finalised anytime soon. There will be a report in May 2011, after which anything could happen.

The Dean of Bradford Cathedral, the Very Reverend David Ison said: “It’s likely that we would want to go in another direction that’s not in the report.

“We might want to say, how about having smaller dioceses that share resources? At the moment, the legal framework for this does not exist.

“The Commission’s proposals are framed within existing law. Because this is a new process, it raises questions of principle.”

A new bishop for the existing Bradford Diocese will be appointed before New Year. Until such time as change takes place, he will carry on from the previous incumbent, the Very Reverend David James, who retired in the summer.