AT THE February “New Deal Conversation” meeting in Ilkley I asked what proportion of Bradford MDC council tax was paid by Ilkley. Not having the information to hand, Stuart McKinnon-Evans, the Bradford MDC Director of Finance, promised to provide the answer later.

True to his word, we have now been told that: “The total amount of Council Tax billed to residents of Ilkley in 2014/15 was £9.4m, which represents 5.3% of the total Council Tax billed for the whole Bradford District.” This seems to show that the total Council tax receipts in Bradford were £177,358,490. Let’s have a closer look at that.

The population of Ilkley in the 2011 census was 14,809. The population of Bradford MDC as a whole was 522,452. Let’s assume there has been little change since then. So the population of Ilkley represents only 2.83% of the total number of people in Bradford MDC. The 14,809 people in Ilkley raise £9.4 million and the other 507,643 raise the other £167,958,490. The contribution was £634.75 per person in Ilkley but only £330.85 per person for the rest of Bradford. Ilkley pays 191% of the amount that the average other Bradford residents pay. By the way our car park also produces about £250,000 per annum for Bradford.

And yet our museum is to be closed on April 12 and put up for disposal; our Town Hall has virtually no services; our Visitor Information Centre is under threat; our children’s resources are being cut; some of our public toilets will no longer be cleaned and our parking arrangements are awful. The “New Deal Conversation” meeting was about the cuts which are coming.

Every pound spent on services by most of the people in Bradford is to be cut. But Ilkley already pays £1.92 for every pound of services which Bradford receives. While I have no problem with some of the relative wealth of Ilkley’s 14,809 being used to help the other 507,643 in Bradford, I think this should always be after Bradford guarantees that Ilkley has all the resources it needs and that Ilkley residents get their money’s worth. That is surely what Localism should be all about?

Steve Butler

Kings Road, Ilkley