At the recent UKREiiF conference, authorities announced a number of plans to help develop the city and give it a much-needed buzz.
At the event, which was held for three days in Leeds last week that saw thousands of real estate investors and developers swarm the area, it was announced that Homes England had signed a partnership with West Yorkshire to develop housing sites in the area. As well as this, the English Cities Fund also came forward and said they would work with Bradford Council to develop the planned ‘city village’ and that UK infrastructure Bank was working with the council to develop a new ‘Southern Gateway’.
The City Village scheme consists of the development of 1,000 homes in Bradford city centre, some of which will be built on the current sites of the Kirkgate Shopping Centre and Oastler Market. Other sites where homes could be built include the Forster Square Regeneration Area, and the Western and Southern Gateway areas.
However, based on previous experience Bradford has been unsuccessful in completing a regeneration project. The Westfield shopping Centre became the ‘Bradford hole’ for a decade before Broadway was built and in February it was reported that the Bradford Canal development site, which was once earmarked for a £350m regeneration scheme was put onto the market.
Despite this, taking to the stage at UKERiiF, Council Leader, Susan Hinchcliffe, said: ‘There has been a real buzz around Bradford at UKREiiF. We are the next UK City of Culture, and we can’t stop applauding that.
‘This is our time. We say that a lot as part of City of Culture, and I know a lot of people have worked so hard to get here. We’re beginning to see a vision that was planned years ago being delivered.’
‘We can now see things coming out of the ground, nearing completion and ready to be opened,’ Cllr Hinchcliffe said. ‘There is one City Park opening, Bradford Live, Darley Street Market. There is the refurbishments of the National Media Museum and Kala Sangam coming up. We also have all the work with Keighley and Shipley Towns Funds.’
Cllr Hinchcliffe concluded her talk on stage by saying that the local authority want to ‘create a future we can be proud of, as well as a past.’
Image: Richard Horne