Bingley Urban District

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Bingley Urban District
The old Bingley Coat of Arms, on a sign on the road in from Crossflatts
Area
 • Coordinates53°50′46″N 1°50′20″W / 53.846°N 1.839°W / 53.846; -1.839
Population
 • 190118,449
 • 196122,272[note 1]
History
 • Preceded byBingley Improvement Commissioners
 • Origin
Bradford Metropolitan District Council
StatusDefunct
Government
 • Type
Latin: Industry begets wealth)[1]
Map Map of boundary as of 1971

Bingley Urban District covered the town of

Bradford Metropolitan District Council
. The urban district council had responsibility for many local interests, including fire service and medical provision, that are now the remit of regional or national agencies.

In 2016, limited council control was returned to the town by the election of Bingley Town Council, but its remit and the area it controls are considerably smaller than the former BUDCs authority.

History

Myrtle Grove, which became the council headquarters in 1926

Bingley was given

improvement commissioners in 1847 under a local act of parliament.[2] This act was passed due to a great increase in the town's population, linked in with the arrival of the railway and increased industrialisation, which had in turn led to slum-like and squalid living conditions, which were recognised as needing improvement.[3] The improvement commissioners' district only covered the built-up area of the town. In 1863 a separate local board was established to provide equivalent services and regulation for the surrounding remainder of the township of Bingley.[4][5]

Under the Local Government Act 1894, improvement commissioners' districts and local board districts were both converted into urban districts.[6][7] Bingley was unusual in having both types of district, one surrounding the other. The old improvement commissioners' district became Bingley Urban District, whilst the surrounding former local board district was named the "Bingley Outer Urban District". The outer district was abolished less than four years later in 1898, being absorbed into Bingley Urban District, which also took in the neighbouring Wilsden Urban District at the same time.[8][9] However, this only occurred after a great debate about sewerage and other utilities, with Bradford Corporation wanting assurances that the new and larger area would not supply fresh water to areas under its control.[10] By 1955, the BUDC was responsible for Bingley, Cottingley, Cullingworth, Eldwick, Flappitt, Gilstead, Harden, Low Springs, Ryecroft and Wilsden.[11]

From the inception of Bingley Urban District Council (BUDC), they occupied a building on the main street that had been built in 1878 and was formerly occupied by a

co-operative society.[12]

In 1904, the BUDC paid £14,000 to buy up some properties on the Old Main Street and part of the graveyard of

All Saints Church. This enabled them to build the new main road straight past what is now the new fire station, and across the graveyard, cutting it into two sections. This required its own Act of 1901, and the removal of interred bodies from the site, whilst the headstones were used to line the paths around the graveyard.[13][14][15]

As a local council, they had responsibility for public services such as a fire brigade, water supply, medical needs and power supplies (gas and electricity).

1899–1902 campaign) and promoting a visit by General Booth in 1907.[19]

In February 1914, the BUDC enabled the Bradford tram system to be extended into Bingley from Nab Wood (

St Ive's estate was purchased for the area by the BUDC for £39,500.[22] In 1923, certain offices of the BUDC were transferred from their previous BUDC offices (some being located in the Mechanics Institute) to Myrtle Grove, on the western side of the town in the rapidly developing Myrtle Park area. By 1926, all of the BUDC's operations had been transferred to Myrtle Grove which had now become the Town Hall.[23]

In 1936, many jobs that are now the responsibility of private enterprises, official regional, or national agencies, were undertaken by the BUDC. These included;[24]

  • Architect
  • Baths superintendent
  • Clerk and solicitor
  • Electrical engineer
  • Engineer and surveyor
  • Fire brigade superintendent
  • Gas engineer
  • Headmaster, technical and evening institutes
  • Health visitor and school nurse
  • Librarian
  • Manager of sewage disposal and inspector of trade wastes
  • Medical officer of health
  • Sanitary inspector
  • Treasurer and accounting
  • Water manager

The novelist John Braine worked for the BUDC in Bingley Library for several years in the 1950s. During this period, he wrote Room at the Top, which allowed him to give up his day job. However, some commented that the novel painted Bradford (and the wider area) as a "seedy, immoral place", and the BUDC criticised the library in Bingley for buying six copies of the novel.[25][26]

In 1974, the Bingley UD was merged into the newly formed

Municipal Borough of Keighley.[27][28]

Population

Population of the Bingley Urban area, 1901–1961
1901 1905 1911 1916 1921 1926 1931 1936 1939 1941 1946 1951 1956 1961
18,449[29] 18,900[30] 18,759[31] 18,615[30] 18,942[29] 19,650[30] 20,553[29] 22,552[30] 22,504[29] 21,370[30] 21,470[30] 21,568[32] 21,660[a][33] 22,272[31]
  1. ^ Estimated population

Chronology

  • 1847 – 1894 Bingley Improvement commissioners, the precursor authority of the BUDC[34]
  • 1893 – Prince of Wales' Park created (BUDC took on this responsibility on their formation one year later)[35]
  • 1894 – BUDC created[34]
  • 1898 – The Bingley Outer and Wilsden Urban District Councils were amalgamated into Bingley Urban District Council.[36]
  • 1902 – A new fire station was built on Elm Tree Hill (opposite Park Road), replaced by new station in 1973[37][38]
  • 1908 – Myrtle Park purchased for the town[39]
  • 1912 (onwards) – The Electric Lighting Order was passed which allowed for the provision of electricity in the town. This was extended to East Morton and West Morton in 1925[40]
  • 3 February 1914– The Bradford Tram system was extended into Bingley from Nab Wood[21]
  • 1928 – Purchased the St Ives estate[41]
  • 31 March 1948 – Electricity generation and supply for the area was removed from the BUDC and vested in the Yorkshire Electricity Board (see Electricity Act 1947)[42]
  • 1948 – Gas, medical, fire, and ambulance services were removed from the BUDCs control into national and regional agencies: NHS for the medical work and West Riding County Council for the fire and ambulance provision[43]
  • 1974 – Opening of Bingley Arts Centre[44]
  • 1974 – subsumed into Bradford District Council[34]

Notable people

Notes

  1. ^ Not all census information is available for 1894 or 1974 (though 1971 would have been the last census before the BUDC was subsumed into Bradford Metropolitan District Council.)

References

  1. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X
    .
  2. ^ "Bingley Improvement Act 1847". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  3. ^ Cattell 2016, p. 28.
  4. ^ "No. 22761". The London Gazette. 11 August 1863. p. 4000.
  5. ^ "Six-inch map, 1894". National Library of Scotland. Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Local Government Act 1894" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Bingley Conservation Area Assessment" (PDF). bradford.gov.uk. March 2004. p. 11. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  8. ^ Annual Report of the Local Government Board. 1898. pp. 284, 293. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Bingley Outer UD through time | Census tables with data for the Local Government District". www.visionofbritain.org. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  10. ^ "County council inquiry at Bingley". Leeds Mercury. No. 18, 298. Column D. 26 November 1896. p. 7.
  11. ^ Battersby 1955, p. 26.
  12. OCLC 27480859
    .
  13. ^ "Bingley conservation area assessment" (PDF). bradford.gov.uk. March 2004. p. 12. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  14. ISBN 978-0-7524-5345-3
    .
  15. ^ Cattell 2016, p. 50.
  16. ^ "Electricity Act 1947". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  17. OCLC 779793338
    .
  18. ^ Battersby 1955, p. 20.
  19. ^ Cattell 2016, p. 16.
  20. ^ King 1998, p. 139.
  21. ^ a b King 1998, p. 51.
  22. ^ Clayton, Emma (7 December 2013). "Plenty of outdoor fun at St Ives". infoweb.newsbank.com. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  23. ^ Cattell 2016, pp. 74–75.
  24. ^ Cattell 2016, p. 33.
  25. ISSN 0140-0460
    .
  26. ^ Clayton, Emma (21 June 2017). ""The 50s were a golden era in Bradford": Reflections on a lost industrial age". infoweb.newsbank.com. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  27. ^ Cattell 2016, p. 34.
  28. ^ "Part I. (Hansard, 25 June 1947)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  29. ^ a b c d "Bingley UD through time | Population Statistics | Total Population". www.visionofbritain.org. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  30. ^ a b c d e f Battersby 1955, p. 45.
  31. ^ a b "Bingley UD through time | Census tables with data for the Local Government District". www.visionofbritain.org. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  32. ^ Battersby 1955, p. 6.
  33. OCLC 779793338
    .
  34. ^ a b c Cattell 2016, p. 19.
  35. ^ Tate, Chris (5 January 2015). "Green-minded Bingley group celebrates two years of regeneration work at neglected park". infoweb.newsbank.com. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  36. ^ "About Bingley & surrounding district". www.bingleyhistory.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  37. ^ Cattell 2016, p. 32.
  38. ^ Historic England. "Old Fire Station (Grade II) (1133369)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  39. ^ Cattell 2016, p. 42.
  40. ^ "No. 33064". The London Gazette. 7 July 1925. p. 4553.
  41. ^ Historic England. "St Ives Estate (Grade II) (1001707)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  42. OCLC 16661395
    .
  43. ^ Cattell 2016, p. 43.
  44. ^ "Bingley Arts Centre (home of Bingley Little Theatre) | Theatres Trust". database.theatrestrust.org.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  45. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39825. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  46. Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 2007 (2020 online ed.). A & C Black. Retrieved 10 September 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  47. ISSN 0140-0460
    .

Sources

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bingley_Urban_District&oldid=1195230587"