Plans are starting to be developed for additional parking to the west of the railway station.

Councillors are continuing to discuss with Yorkshire Water plans for the future of surplus land on Yorkshire Water's land at Esholt to make sure that local people's views are included. When the possibility of the land becoming surplus was first raised with us we immediately suggested that increased public access must be their first priority.

On the eve of the Manchester premiere screening of Mike Leigh's "Peterloo" (the first outside of London premiere), Councillor Geoff Reid (Lib Dem, Eccleshill) wound up a debate on Yorkshire Devolution with a reference to the 1819 Peterloo Massacre and the struggle for women's suffrage.

At the end of October major changes to bus routes and timetables will see many residents losing their direct service to Leeds. Cllr Geoff Reid says that he is “bitterly disappointed” by changes to local bus services.

As part of the changes the Bradford to Leeds via Greengates service 670 is being partly replaced by a new service 35, giving a bus every half hour through the day Mondays to Saturdays between Greengates and Leeds. 

Residents on the other section of the old route (Thorpe Edge, Idle, Ecclehill and Undercliffe)  will be left with an hourly service 671 which will link Thorpe Edge (York House) with Bradford Interchange via Five Lane Ends before continuing to West Bowling.

Figures revealed in an Audit of Bradford Council show that it has continued to pay monthly tariffs on hundreds of mobile phones it doesn't even use. In the Councils Internal Audit Annual Report it is stated that this waste has cost the Council £70,000 to £90,000.

Lib Dems publish plans to cut taxes for businesses by 24% in Bradford.

The Liberal Democrats have published a comprehensive blueprint for replacing the broken business rates system, cutting taxes for businesses by in Bradford and District.

The West Yorkshire Pension Fund has more assets invested in the tobacco industry than any other local authority pension fund in the country according to a report in the Guardian. This was based on data compiled from more than a hundred Freedom of Information requests.

The Fund is administered by Bradford Council and at the Governance and Audit Committee on 30 July Councillor Geoff Reid challenged the investment portfolio in which four out of the five top assets were in tobacco and fossil fuels.

Responding to the news that House of Fraser went into administration before being bought out by Sports Direct, Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said:

“This is yet another example of the crisis in our high streets. There are many factors that appear to have contributed to this administration, some of which we can do little about.

“But one factor is online competition - and we must create a level playing field between the high street and the big tech retailers. This means scrapping business rates - a motion that will be put to the Liberal Democrat conference next month - and making sure big tech starts paying its fair share in taxation."

Bradford Lib Dems Regeneration Spokesperson Brendan Stubbs (Lib Dem Eccleshill) said "What needs to happen is more non-retail activity needs to take place to draw people in. Amazon and the like cannot offer cultural events, funfairs or a good day out at the on-line checkout. In Bradford we also need to face up to the fact that some of the buildings that are beyond economic repair need to be demolished to make way for housing. Putting people back into our city will help the retailers too."

Idle and Thackley Liberal Democrats have launched a campaign to persuade Bradford Council and Yorkshire Water to create a brand new Country Park on surplus land in and around Esholt and Idle and Thackley ward.

People can show their support by going on line at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/countryparkmasterplan

Figures published today by Public Health England show that nationally one child in 25 aged between 10-11 in their last year at primary school is obese. Shockingly figures for Bradford show that MORE than 40 per cent of children in the Bradford district are overweight or obese when they leave primary school, with more than a quarter obese or severely obese.

Obesity is also more prevalent among children from ethnic minority backgrounds than among white children, and boys were revealed to be more obese than girls. Jeanette Sunderland, Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley said these figures are really worrying as being obese as a child can lead to an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.