Who we are
Ideal Bradford is a group of active local residents who have come together to make a positive difference to our town. We’re not professional politicians but we are professional people from many different backgrounds, with expertise in a wide variety of areas.
More importantly, if you live in Bradford on Avon, we’re your neighbours and your fellow townsfolk. Our kids go to the same schools as yours, we shop in the same places as you and we care as passionately about our town and community as you do. More detail on our candidates can be found here.
OUR AIMS
We want to see a council that has no ties to any national parties and can concentrate solely on doing the best thing for everyone who lives and works in Bradford on Avon.
The existing council has done some good work, but there's still a lot that needs to be fixed in BoA. We need to come up with cleverer and more innovative solutions for the issues that face our town, or nothing is going to get fixed. We believe that an independent council will be able to make decisions and deliver results, to protect local services for the town, to encourage and support local business and to make the council more transparent and democratically accountable to the people of Bradford on Avon.
WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP
Running a successful campaign is a very costly endeavour and we don’t have a large national party to fund us, or a private donor who will expect something in return. Ideal Bradford is completely independent and we need to stay that way. Everyone involved is giving their time for free, because we believe in making a positive difference in our community.
However, we still have a lot of costs to meet and we need your help with this. Any contribution you’re able to make will help us with a whole variety of ventures including:
- Printing and distributing leaflets. We need to get the word out to everyone in Bradford on Avon and the single best way to do this is to leaflet the whole town. But printing and distribution aren’t cheap – and we need to reach as many people as possible.
- Launching our action plan. We’ve been spending a lot of time talking to local people about what needs to be done in Bradford on Avon and we’re launching a Manifesto that will be crowdsourced so that everyone who lives and works in our town can have their say.
- Running our campaign office. We have an office in Market Street which will be open every day of the campaign. We need funds to heat and light it to keep this office fully resourced.
- Miscellaneous costs. There will be a hundred other costs that we haven’t time to list here, from printing posters and banners and ordering suggestion boxes to put up around town, to stocking up on paperclips and buying plasters for all the blisters we’re sure to work up pounding the streets.
We hugely appreciate any assistance you might be able to give us. No matter how small it is, every bit of help counts and is very gratefully received. Thank you in advance for helping us build an Ideal Bradford.
Legal bits
Ideal Bradford is currently registering as a minor political party with the Electoral Commission. All donations made to us via this site will help up us to support candidates standing in the 2017 Town Council elections. We are required to report donations of over £500 to the electoral commission as part of campaign funding rules (but don't let that put you off!) We also need to collect basic information from you (via the site) to help us to confirm that you are a permissible donor. We are not permitted to accept anonymous donations of over £500.