Bradford 'City Village' plan takes step forward

The boundary for the "City Village" plan in Bradford city centre includes the new £23m Darley Street Market

Plans to create a new "City Village" in the centre of Bradford have taken a step forward.

The proposed scheme, the principles of which have now been approved by Bradford Council's decision-making executive, would create a central neighbourhood offering up to 1,000 homes in a "green, traffic-reduced and sustainable environment", the council said.

A meeting of the executive heard work on the 10-year project could begin in 2024.

It was hoped a private development partner would be appointed by the summer to help move it forward, the local authority said.

The plan would "revitalise" local retail, business and leisure activities and offer new opportunities for independent shops, cafes, bars and work spaces, it added.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, pictured at the Bradford Live site, said the City Village plan extended the "pipeline of exciting regeneration projects" in Bradford

The city's £23m Darley Street Market, replacing the Oastler Centre and Kirkgate Market once complete, falls inside the planned boundary for the regeneration scheme.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, the council's executive member for regeneration, said the scheme was one of several "exciting regeneration projects" in the city along with the Bradford Live music venue and the One City Park offices.

"With private sector investment clustering around the Broadway and retail moving down the hill, we took the decision that we needed to actually think more broadly about the city centre and how it was going to be shaped for the future," he said.

"Seeing the regeneration opportunity in Bradford leading up to 2025 and going beyond that is really fantastic."