An application for Keighley to be awarded official Fairtrade accreditation will be submitted at the end of next week.

A volunteer team, backed by Keighley Town Centre Association, has been busy recruiting businesses, schools and community groups to help make it a Fairtrade town.

All the organisations are being encouraged to buy, sell or use goods sourced at a fair price from growers in developing countries.

Keighley Fairtrade group member Richard Dillon said in order for the town to achieve this status from the Fairtrade Foundation, the group must demonstrate support for ethical trading practices from local government, businesses, faith groups and media. “We’ve been working all through the summer to meet these criteria,” he said.

“One of them is for Keighley to have 13 retailers and six caterers stocking Fairtrade products, and I’m confident we’ve got that.

“We’re going to submit our application to the Fairtrade Foundation on September 6.

“We’re finalising the application and I’m feeling very positive. Once it has been submitted, it’ll take about a month for the foundation to confirm that we’ve met the criteria.

“Getting Fairtrade status for Keighley would be excellent, but it will be just the start of the process, and something we can continue to build on.”