Bradford has finally published its long-awaited Community Action Plan - dubbed the People Power Plan. But what will it mean to the man in the street? Here City Hall reporter Olwen Vasey

examines the issues.

Bradford Council was way ahead of the field when Hilary Armstrong announced her radical plans for "people power" in local government.

The new Housing and Local Government Minister wants the people of Britain to have a say in what their council does and how it spends their money.

Her proposals could even mean referendums when councils wanted to take up expensive schemes which put the council tax up.

And she has urged councils across the county to get down to grass roots democracy and speak to the electors.

Long before she had taken over from the Tory Skipton and Ripon MP David Curry in his Whitehall office, the Council had already been sowing the seeds for the district's first Community Plan.

Questionnaires were sent to every household in the district setting out the Council's five proposed priorities and asking people if they agreed with them.

They were:

1. Rebuilding communities;

2. Partnerships for local regeneration;

3. Better education for all;

4. A clean, healthy and valued environment;

5. Fighting crime for a safer district.

The recipients were asked to spell out exactly what action they wanted to see if they agreed with the objectives.

More than 4,000 replies flooded back into City Hall - some with letters attached to them because people felt so strongly about different issues.

Minority group councillors said they did not feel that the number of replies received 18 months ago was truly representative of a district with 480,000 people.

But the then Council Leader Councillor Tony Cairns said he believed the response was good because of the detailed information received back.

He said the consultation would be ongoing, with the issue going to neighbourhood forums and other public meetings.

People wrote protesting about dirty streets, litter, facilities for young people, and suggesting ways of tackling crime.

Many wanted improvements in educational standards, although there was praise for schools and teachers.

Last year the debates carried on when conferences were held in each of the five Parliamentary Constituencies, Bradford North, West and South, Shipley and Keighley.

Again the response from the public went back to City Hall. And the next stage came last week with the production of a major action plan to run until March next year.

Each year updated plans will be produced in a bid to make Bradford a better place before and after the Millennium.

But the 73-page plan - to be discussed at Friday's policy and resources committee - has received both praise and criticism following its publication.

It deals with dozens of issues, including education, drugs, child care, health, racial harassment and crime.

The drugs initiative will be aimed mainly at under-15s involved with heroin, highlighted as a major problem in the district by Bradford Community Health Council last week.

Council Leader, Councillor John Ryan, said the Council would link with major organisations including Bradford Health and the police to make it all happen.

Coun Ryan said they had tried to give the people of the district what they had asked for - although they realised there was still a long way to go. He said he was pleased with the plans which had been produced and the Council's share of the schemes could be produced from existing budgets.

But a teachers' union official said he feared the school projects would mean "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and was concerned about the funding.

Ian Davey, of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, said: "If there are no new resources, it looks as though it is being done on the cheap."

But Coun Ryan said the main priorities of the Community Plan has already been taken on with mainstream funding redirected. He said they had also received extra government funding to reduce classroom sizes.

General secretary for the Council of Mosques, Khadim Hussain, said: "This is great news and we as a Muslim community would welcome it. It would help in many aspects of people's lives.

"The drugs problem is one of the biggest in Bradford and I think this is one of the best parts of the plan. Youngsters should be helped, treated and receive counselling."

Audrey Raistrick, of Ravenscliffe and Greengates Association, said: "We support it wholeheartedly. We have been trying to address these issues by ourselves until now. It is very good news."

But Leader of the Council's Tory Group, Councillor Margaret Eaton, said she feared it would be a "wish list" and wanted full details of funding and what the Council had spent on its production.

She said: "Questionnaires were sent out to every household in the district but there were very few replies. Most people must have binned them.

"There are some very expensive projects here and I want to know how it would be possible within existing resources."

Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, said: "We should be very careful about blanket solutions. What is good for one area may not be good for another."

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