Chair of the Keighley Towns Fund Board steps down

Bradford Council has thanked the chairman of the Keighley Towns Fund board, after he announced he is stepping down from the role.

Ian Hayfield has served as the chairman of the Towns Fund board since its inception in 2020, when Keighley secured a £33.6m package of Government funding, as one of 101 places across the country.

The Keighley Towns Fund board was established as a partnership of public and private sector representatives, to be chaired by a local private sector individual, to oversee a programme of regeneration in the area.

Chartered Surveyor Ian Hayfield, of Hayfield Robinson, was elected as chair of the Towns Fund board and has served ever since. In the early stages of the programme, the role of the chair was to lead the board in identifying and agreeing the regeneration vision through the creation of an investment plan.

During Ian’s tenure, the role of the board shifted into one of monitoring the delivery of projects such as the Providence Park development, the Community Grants programme, the Town Centre Infrastructure project together with the continued success of the Capital Assistance to Business Growth grants.

Ian said: “I am stepping down on short term health grounds and feel that now is the right time to give someone else the opportunity to deliver some of these incredible projects.

“It has been a privilege to hold the position of chair of the Keighley Towns Fund. I feel very proud of what we have achieved for the town and surrounding area.

“I’d like to thank everyone who I have worked with over the years, through the challenges of Covid and beyond. I have had the pleasure of working with some brilliant people from the teams at Keighley Town Council and Bradford Council through to our sponsors, and I have been fully supported by the hard-working members of the board.

“I am confident that their incredible work will continue and that these excellent projects will be delivered for Keighley, making a real difference to people’s lives for years to come.”

Bradford Council’s Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Transport and Planning Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw said: ““Ian has been involved in supporting so many things in and around Keighley over the years it was no surprise when he stepped up to drive our Towns Fund work forward.

“We would like to sincerely thank him for all of his efforts over the last almost four years, overseeing the Towns Fund programme from its inception all the way through to securing funding and delivering the projects. A notable success being the approval of a new health and well-being centre for the town. Ian has volunteered a lot of his time, very valuable experience, skills and resources to the Towns Fund programme and we are very grateful to him.”

A recruitment process will be confirmed shortly, with the aim to have a permanent appointment in place during March 2024. Until then, the Vice-Chair, Liz Barker, will act as Interim Chair of the Keighley Towns Fund board.

About the Towns Fund

The Towns Fund is a Government-funded support programme to boost the economies of towns across the UK. The programme is part of the Government’s Levelling Up plan. Decisions on grants are made by Towns Fund Boards for each town, which are made up of private sector representatives with support from Bradford Council.