Safe, strong and active communities

Our ambition

Our ambition is to make the Bradford District a great place for everyone to live: one that each one of us can play an active role in, be part of, be enriched by, and feel proud of calling our home.

Our context

COVID-19 presents complex challenges to a district as young and diverse as the Bradford District. As we face them and look to a better future beyond the pandemic we know that we have solid foundations to build that future upon.

We know our communities well – 82% of Council staff live in the district, many with deep rooted connections to our places and people. Decades promoting integration and cohesion have taught us valuable lessons and led to pioneering partnership initiatives such as the School Linking Network; our community ambassadors providing critical insight into the assets and needs of our communities; innovative approaches to increasing participation in the economy; and internationally recognized work to combat racism and extremism.

Our understanding of our communities has been integral to our response to the pandemic as has our recognition that the Council achieves little acting alone. Strong, mature partnerships with our Voluntary and Community Sector and Police, developed over many years, have been critical to community resilience and wellbeing and will continue to be so throughout COVID-19 and beyond.

'People Can' is at the heart of working with people as individuals, families and communities to help get the very best outcomes. We are committed to doing things with people, not to them.

However, we are only too aware of the impact that the behaviour of a minority has on the quality of life of the responsible, law-abiding majority. We see it in dangerous and anti-social driving, the drug deals, the litter on our streets and the affront of fly-tipping. Spelling out responsibilities as well as rights and taking robust action to identify and prosecute offenders will be key to our work.

COVID-19 is widening inequality and threatening community cohesion. Hate crime, domestic abuse and social isolation have increased. We must continue to work together with communities and align our local and district-wide services so we can all play a part in creating and sustaining strong, active and safe places.

Our priorities

Living with COVID-19

We will:

  • Work with our communities, volunteers and community organisations to reduce social isolation as a result of COVID-19 and support the building of community resilience and cohesion.
  • Ensure residents of all communities have access to the support they need.
  • Increase the awareness and confidence among victims of domestic violence and hate crimes to report incidents and seek help.

Building a Better Future

We will:

  • Work to empower communities so we do things with them not to them.
  • Improve equality of opportunity by addressing factors affecting economic participation and poverty, including language skills and educational attainment.
  • Help people get on better with each other by promoting greater interaction, dialogue and understanding across the district.
  • Make sure people fully understand their rights, freedoms and responsibilities.
  • Create opportunities for people to take part in community and civic life and strengthening leadership. We will nurture and grow a resilient and vibrant voluntary and charitable sector.
  • Keep the district clean and tidy, including waste collection, keeping our public spaces clean and tidy and continue to support measures to address fly tipping.
  • Tackle crime and the fear of crime so everyone feels safe.

How we will measure success

  1. Improve the percentage of people from different backgrounds who get on well together and close the gap with the West Yorkshire average.
  2. Increase the overall value of Council commissioning spend on charity and voluntary sector contracts. Target is an increase on current spend of £22.2m per year.
  3. Reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents in Bradford District.
  4. Increase in percentage of Your Views survey respondents who say they feel safe in their local area (rolling year) including an improvement in comparison with West Yorkshire average.

The underpinning plans and strategies that will enable us to deliver on this priority include:

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