THE chief executive of Bradford Council has been fiercely critical of a report which named the city as one of the most segregated places in the country.

Kersten England insisted Bradford was a district which “celebrates, commemorates, works and plays together”, despite claims made by the think-tank Policy Exchange back in January.

But the Policy Exchange questioned why it had taken her until now to respond.

In January, the Policy Exchange named Bradford as fifth most segregated place in England and Wales, with Batley sixth, Halifax seventh and Keighley ninth.

It had examined 160 towns and cities with minority populations of at least 15 per cent, examining how well minorities living in that area mixed with other ethnic groups and how white British people living in that area felt.

A more detailed report was later released in April, which said: “Generally, the findings are what a well-informed observer would expect: integration is least in the Yorkshire and Lancashire mill towns with higher levels of deprivation and large shares of Pakistani Muslims.”

Ms England said she took issue with Bradford and Keighley being identified as segregated, because of the “narrow methodology and lack of knowledge about these Northern places, all too evident in the report”.

She said the response to the Boxing Day floods, and to recent demonstrations by the English Defence League, had shown just how united and resilient the district could be.

She added: “We are a district that celebrates, commemorates, works and plays together. It is no coincidence that the first synagogue in the world to have a Muslim board member is in Bradford, or that during devastating flooding in December 2015 many different communities, including those not directly affected, worked tirelessly together to deliver relief.”

A spokesman for the Policy Exchange said: “The report was published in April so they are a little late with the statement.

“The paper also used the latest available official data from the 2011 census, focusing on places with populations containing over 20,000 ethnic minority populations. It’s as robust as it can be.”

Ms England said cohesion was an important issue which continued to be discussed in a variety of national reports.