More than £13m pledged for city development

Shops, cafes and three new parks will be built as part of the project

More than £13m has been pledged to the development of Bradford's City Village regeneration area - including up to 900 new homes - at a meeting on Thursday.

The funding will come from a pot of cash awarded to West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) to kickstart housing developments on brownfield sites across the region.

A report by the authority on the City Village said the funding was needed to help "grow confidence" in the housing market in central Bradford.

The development has been in the planning stages for years and will see hundreds of homes built on the Kirkgate Shopping Centre and Oastler Market sites and on a number of council-owned car parks in the Chain Street area.

Construction work could begin in 2027

In 2024, it was announced that the City Village scheme would get about £30m funding from Homes England, and last month Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed this funding.

At a meeting of WYCA on Thursday, members approved a contribution of up to £13,166,409.

Further funding is expected to come from housing developers, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'Most ambitious'

The development will take place in multiple phases, with the WYCA funding going towards phases 1 and 2.

Phase 1 is expected to cost £33,066,838, with Phase 2 costing £58,794,088.

The project is considered "the most ambitious regeneration project in Bradford in years" by Bradford Council.

The Kirkgate Shopping Centre and Oastler Market will be vacated and closed after the new Darley Street Market is opened, with both sites flattened to make way for the scheme.

At a separate meeting on Wednesday, Bradford Council's decision-making executive signed off on authorising the use of compulsory purchase powers, if needed, to vacate the two older market buildings.

The meeting heard it was "critical" to secure vacant possession of the sites to prepare them for demolition, and negotiations were ongoing with some tenants and leaseholders.

The report says Bradford "does not currently benefit from a city living culture and has limited new build housing developments", while the City Village vision "is to create a green, healthy, sustainable and community-friendly city centre neighbourhood".

The report says Phase One will involve the construction of mixed tenure town houses on Chain Street and on the Oastler Market site.

Phase Two will include rented apartments on the Kirkgate site.

Phases Three to Five are expected to deliver about 630 rented apartments.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.