'New man' Bob Cannell says he has been barred from being a councillor because the Council will not provide a creche for his three young children.

The part-time house husband and Shipley West councillor says he has been forced to miss Council meetings and has had to bring his children, Allie, eight, Laurie, six, and Christopher, two, into the Council Chamber.

Councillor Cannell, whose wife Clare Connolly is a GP in Little Horton, works part-time as a personnel officer but is responsible for the daytime care of his children.

Now he complains he has been forced to quit after 12 years of juggling his children with council commitments and is campaigning against unfair rules which are stopping parents becoming councillors.

He has called on Bradford Council to press the Government to allow local authorities to provide childcare.

"We will never have proper representation on the Council because large sections of the population can't manage the hours," he said.

"The lack of childcare has stopped me from fulfilling my public duties. The times of meetings are awkward and it's hard to get a babysitter. When I bring my children to meetings it irritates other councillors."

Under Government rules, any spending on creche facilities or childcare expenses is considered illegal.

But when Coun Bridget Maguire (Heaton, Lab) conducted a straw poll at the Local Government Conference in Scarborough, she found half the councils attending provided some form of care - including Leeds City Council.

Coun Cannell, who will stand down in May after 12 years, said: "Some councils appear to be paying for childcare and saying hang the consequences. They haven't got the bottle in Bradford."

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe supported Coun Cannell's call and pledged to raise the matter with Harriet Harman, Secretary of State for Social Security.

A Bradford Council legal services spokesman said: "There are legal obstacles to assisting members of the Council with childcare but it is essential their needs are fully addressed so that nobody is dissuaded from standing as a councillor,

"This is a situation which Bradford Council has under close review."

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