BRADFORD will hold its first full Council meeting since February on Tuesday - where members will have their say on plans for a new West Yorkshire devolution deal.

Bans on mass gatherings due to Coronavirus have meant that all Council meetings since lockdown have had to be held online. While a number of committees and panels have held online meetings since then, Tuesday will mark the first time all 90 Councillors will meet digitally.

The main item on the agenda of the extraordinary meeting is the proposed devolution deal announced by the Government in 2020.

The deal will see a West Yorkshire Mayor elected in May 2021, and more local power over spending on transport and adult education.

For Bradford, the deal included a number of measures that are currently in the planning stages, such as a refurbishment of Bradford Interchange and a park and ride in the South of the District.

Mention of devolution makes people 'glaze over'

At Tuesday's meeting, members will discuss the findings of a public consultation into the devolution plans.

Almost 4,500 people across West Yorkshire responded to the consultation, which was held earlier this year.

The results show that of the fire Council areas that make up West Yorkshire the most responses by far came from Leeds - 2,137.

In comparison just 629 came from Bradford.

The consultation was carried out by Ipsos Mori, and the five councils are now taking it in turns to have their say on the results.

Members of the Council will be told that the majority of responses were positive, but many respondents raised concerns about several aspects of the deal.

Of the almost 4,500 who responded, 894 said they did not agree with the planned governance arrangements, with some saying it would lead to extra bureaucracy and cost. Some said they didn't want an elected mayor, and others said any devolution should be Yorkshire wide, rather than West Yorkshire wide.

There was much greater support for the idea of transport spending powers being devolved locally. 3106 people voice support for this, with 677 disagreeing with this.

Plans to devolve skills and employment functions to the new mayoral authority saw 2,954 people voicing their support and 605 people opposing the idea.

Other people raised concerns that larger metropolitan areas like Leeds and Bradford would attract the majority of funding at the expense of smaller towns and villages.

Some said the consultation did not have enough publicity.

Local "stakeholders" were also asked for their views on the plans.

The University of Bradford supported the idea of more local decision making, and transport groups like Transdev and Northern said it would bring "renewed strength and focus" to local transport provision.

TUC Yorkshire and The Humber outlined concerns about the proposed structure of the Mayoral Combined Authority, commenting that they fear the

structure would fail to deliver growth for working people in the region."

The Council meets online at 4pm on Tuesday.