The Bradford Community of Interest Working Group developed in 2002 with the rolling out of Neighbourhood Renewal in the district.    The group was set up by active citizens from communities of interest, and agencies working with them, who were concerned to ensure that structures existed that would enable the voices of their communities to be heard:   It was felt that the emphasis on the neighbourhood could unintentionally exclude many of the most disadvantaged communities within the district.

The active members of the Working Group include representatives of the African and African Caribbean communities, Lesbian Gay and Bisexual communities, disability communities, Cancer suffers, South Asian communities, older people, European communities and others.   The group has an open policy around membership and encourages further representation from people active within communities of interest.

The Working Group has raised the profile of communities of interest within the district.   Neighbourhood Renewal has responded by recognising the need to have communities of interest has a separate strand and the Council has included communities of interest as part of its Equalities Structure.   The Interim Plans of communities of interest and Community Action Plans  

A range of Communities of Interest networks and organisations working with Communities of interest were invited to produce INTERIM PLANS.  

These INTERIM PLANS pulled together information about their communities to present information about ALL of the issues that are important to their community.   Lots emerged from this process including the identification of the shared difficulties that many communities of interest experience when asked to provide baseline evidence about aspects of their communities.   These web pages are the initial response to address this issue.

The Community of Interest Working Group is currently coordinated by the Community Development Policy Unit of Bradford Council and Bradford C-NET (Community Network).   For more information: