Broken Bradford: Full list of services set to be cut by Bradford Council

Soaring children’s social care costs, as well as funding cuts from the Government, mean the council is being forced to make savings of at least £40 million over the next three years with the latest proposals.

But the cuts could go further still - the council has said more proposals for savings will be announced in the coming months.

This could be alleviated if the Government agrees to the council’s request for exceptional financial support for Bradford Children and Families Trust (BCFT), which manages children’s social care, but a response from the Government has not been forthcoming.

Last month, the council said 85 employees, of its total workforce of 7,411, were at risk of redundancy. As a result of the latest proposals, a further 113 employees are directly impacted and at risk of redundancy. It says every effort will be made to ensure that staff affected will be re-deployed.

The Yorkshire Post has compiled a list of which services and charges are likely to be impacted as things stand.

Council tax

The amount councils pay will increase by the maximum amount allowed without holding a referendum - 2.99 per cent. The social care precept - ringfenced for spending on social care - will also increase by the maximum two percent, meaning the overall council tax bill levied by the council will increase by 4.99 per cent from April.

Sale of assets

The council plans to sell some of the buildings and land it owns, which it believes could generate £60 million. Full details are yet to be published, but a plan is due to be released next month.

Sport and leisure fees

The council says its charges have historically been low compared to other West Yorkshire and UK councils, with what it called generous subsidies for ‘passport to leisure’ users. However above inflation price increases for sports facilities fees and charges will be introduced from April. General fees will increase by 15 per cent, while monthly gym memberships will increase by 10 per cent.

Sport and leisure centres

The council is carrying out a review of all its sports and leisure facilities, and is hoping to save £1.25 million by 2025-26. It says: “Reductions of this scale are likely to impact on the overall number of swimming pools, gyms and indoor recreation centres.” There are 12 sports centres and swimming pools currently operated by the council: Baildon Recreation Centre; Bingley Pool; Bowling Pool; Eccleshill Pool; Horsfall Athletics Stadium; Ilkley Pool and Lido; Manningham Sports Centre; Marley Activities and Coaching Centre; Sedbergh Sports and Leisure Centre; Shipley Pool and Gym The Leisure Centre, Keighley; and Thornton Recreation Centre.

Squire Lane project

A £48.9 million leisure and health facility, which was later scaled down to a £35 million project, funded in part by money from the levelling up fund, will now be included in the sport and leisure review, and may be scrapped. It was due to be built on the site of the former Springfield Children’s Home on Squire Lane in the Girlington area of the city.

Libraries

The council says it is undertaking a strategic review of its libraries to see how overall costs can be reduced. It anticipates to cut £175,000 from the budget by 2025-26. It says the review will look at facility operating costs, usage data, property and asset stock-condition and the potential for alternative operating models.

Ingleborough Hall Outdoor Centre

The council plans to close and sell the outdoor education centre it owns in Clapham, North Yorkshire, which it says has high levels of backlog maintenance. This would involve redundancies.

Bradford City Centre Visitor Information Centre

The council plans to close the tourist information centre from June 1, however an option to relocate it to the City Centre library will be looked at.

Museums

A ‘pay what you think’ admission charge would be rolled out at all Bradford Museum from April, which the council hopes will raise £63,000. School visits to the museums will also increase in price for the schools, generating an additional £12,000

Tips

The service currently operates eight household waste recycling centres (HWRCs). It plans to close three, at Ford Hill (Queensbury), Sugden End (Keighley) and Golden Butts (Ilkley). It anticipates this would save £900,000. Meanwhile, the council plans to close all but two of the tips on Mondays, saving £225,000. Further it plans to introduce a new permit and monitoring system, enforced by new automatic number plate recognition cameras, with limitations on the number of permitted vehicles and visits per resident.

Reduction of bin collection rounds

A more efficient routing system will be introduced, saving £300,000. The council says there will be no impact for residents and collection frequencies would remain the same.

Flytipping

In line with national regulations, the council plans to increase the maximum level of fixed penalty notices for flytipping. It anticipates this will generate £25,000 a year

Bulky item collection

The costs for bulk collections will change from five items for £30 to three items for £50. This will generate £200,000, the council says

Garden waste

The council will now charge £53 per year for garden waste bins (£50 if booked early) and £40 per additional bin. The service currently runs with four collection vehicles for 11 months of the year, pausing only for Christmas through to late January, but the collection intervals are likely to change. It is hoped this will generate £486,000

Charity collection

The council plans to cease arrangements with three charities which submit invoices for re-use credits for household items they divert from landfill. This will save £20,000

Car parking

A standard district-wide £1 per hour charge will be introduced bringing Shipley and Keighley into line with places such as Bingley, Saltaire and Haworth. It also includes villages such as Silsden, Wilsden, Baildon. In high-demand car parks, such as South Hawksworth Street -Ilkley, Sharpe St – city centre, Exhibition Road - Saltaire and the Parsonage Museum Car Park – Haworth, the hourly charge will increase from £1 to £1.50. Day-time charging hours in high demand car parks will also be extended, from 8am until 6pm to from 8am until 10pm. This effectively replaces the 6pm evening charge.

Car parking permits

Currently there are 13,887 resident and visitor permits in the district, for which there are no charges for a resident’s permit or for the first visitors permit. The council says this is out of sync with neighbouring councils. This proposal is to introduce charges for resident and visitor permits. A charge of £35 per permit is proposed to be applied. The council also plans to increase the cost of a health and social care visitor permit for private providers from £10 per annum to £25 per annum and to increase the cost of a business and worker permit from £150 per annum to £250 per annum.

Ilkley Lido car park

The council is set to introduce car park charging at Ilkley Pool and Lido car park from 2024-25. The proposal will generate an estimated £25,000 of income

Revised staff car parking scheme

In November 2021 temporary free parking was introduced in Sharpe Street car park for children’s social care staff. This was then extended to other staff in children and adult services and to include all the council car parks included in the employee parking scheme. The council has withdrawn all free parking permits for previously eligible staff with effect from New Year’s Day. BCFT has also stopped subsidising the free parking permits for its staff creating an anticipated saving of £140,000 per year

On-street parking

The council plans to introduce a standard £1 per hour parking charge for existing designated on street parking areas.

Cultural grant funding

A grant scheme for cultural events and organisations will cease, saving £155,000

Voluntary and Community Sector infrastructure Support Contract.

The council plans a £460,000 cut in the contribution the council makes to the infrastructure support contract delivered by the VCS sector. This represents a full withdrawal from the council’s contribution to this contract, and the council says it will be phased accordingly.

Youth Service Teams

Cuts will be made here, by combining the Shipley and Keighley teams, resulting in two full time job losses, saving £50,000 this year rising to £100,000 next year.

Neighbourhood teams

The council plans back-office savings of £109,000 this year and £218,000 next.

Highway Services

The council plans to hike charges relating to charging for skips, erection of scaffolding on the highway, hoardings on the highway, depositing items on the highway, charges for cranes, dropped crossings, roadwork excavation and café pavement licences.

Adult Social Care Prevention Strategy

The council plans to save £2.5 million in 2024-25, rising to £7.5 million by 2026-27 by encouraging preventative measures, and “transforming” short-term enablement services, with less bed-based intermediate care funded by the council and more community enablement support in people’s own homes All older people supported by adult social care will have what the council calls an individual strengths-based care review, to ensure they are receiving the right level of care and support, funded in the most appropriate way. All adult social care contracts will also be reviewed.

Adults with Disabilities

Projects to seek employment for disabled young people who wish to work have been launched by the council, while the day service will be “modernised”. It is hoped £7.5 million will be saved by the end of 2026-27.

Case Management

Savings of £5 million are hoped to be achieved through a new IT system linked to NHS records and those of care providers.