The proposed shake-up of the top management of Bradford Council, though it might prove painful for some of those directly affected, is inevitable given the changes being made to the Council structure to meet the 20-20 Vision for the future. That new structure needs to be matched by a reorganisation of the various directorates if it is to succeed.

If you are restructuring a business, you have to throw things up in the air and start again. Some would say that a major change of this sort was long overdue, not just for Bradford but throughout the country. Many local authority set-ups have been in place for decades and are sorely in need of a powerful wind of change.

Hopefully the process will result in a cleaner, leaner, more efficient way of running the affairs of the district for the benefit of local residents, and save some Council tax cash in the process.

We have sympathy for anyone who will lose their job as a result of this shake-up. Some established names may well depart and new ones arrive. But this is a golden opportunity for a fresh start, to bring in new blood and take the city forward.

It could not be better timed, as the old century draws to an end. The reorganisation will send out the message to residents and outsiders alike that Bradford really does mean business. With luck and nerve, we should be able to hit the ground running as we greet the new Millennium, and show the rest of the country the way forward.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.