IS it time to scrap the Lord Mayor’s car? Bradford Council has spent £23,000 over the past three years providing suitable transport for the city’s mayor.

The local authority leases a BMW 730d (a canny move given the precipitous decline in the secondhand values of diesel cars since the VW ‘dieselgate’ scandal) so presumably it could hand back the keys (or the remote-locking fob) when the lease period is up.

It wouldn’t be the first council to do so.

Since 2016 the Mayor of Weymouth has used their own transport when on official business.

Since making the switch, the Dorset council has saved thousands.

The cost of a car and chauffeur used to be £21,000 a year. Now it is just over £3,000.

But Bradford’s Lord Mayor is the city’s civic figurehead.

The Lord Mayor attends hundreds of official engagements every year helping to promote the city and raise money for good causes.

Yes it’s a nice perk to be driven around in a posh car – but it’s also a tradition with a serious side. The Lord Mayor represents our city; appearances matter.

What kind of message would it send out to the wider world if they are reduced to turning up in an old banger?

Although £7,666 a year is a considerable sum, compared to the millions Bradford Council has been forced to save in the name of austerity that is a drop in the ocean. It is hardly going to make a dent in the £195m adult and children’s services budget.

For that reason we don’t think it is time to tell the Lord Mayor to get on his bike just yet.