Bradford City of Culture: Plan to crack down on anti-social behaviour

Bradford will host the year-long arts festival in 2025

Plans are being drawn up to tackle anti-social behaviour and littering in Bradford ahead of its year as City of Culture, a report says.

The city will host the year-long arts festival in 2025.

A council meeting will hear that police powers could be reviewed to deter crime and licensing arrangements would be streamlined to encourage bars and food outlets to open in time for the event.

Cleaning will be carried out to ensure the city is "prepared and dressed".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a council meeting will be told that preparations would include a review of street furniture, with all damaged furniture or "clutter" removed.

The report said that a priority would be to "prevent and deter anti-social behaviour".

"A significant growth in the cultural sector will attract increased numbers of visitors, particularly in our urban centres - often during the darker evening hours," the report said.

The recently refurbished St George's Hall will be one of the venues for events in 2025

"Partnership work to assess the actual safety and also the 'feeling' of safety in key locations in our urban centres and other key cultural sites to identify areas that may present a greater risk needs to be an essential part of the process as we move towards 2025.

"The programme should work alongside the District Community Safety Partnership to assess the risk of certain crime types such as acquisitive crimes, drug dealing, street drinking and anti-social behaviour, particularly in locations which may evolve with cultural development and those in which redevelopment may change the 'look and feel' of a location from what it is now."

Measures could include extra lighting, CCTV and cutting back vegetation.

Other measures being considered include a review of roadworks and maintenance schemes "to ensure they maximise the impact on appearance of the city centre, key routes into and key locations across the district".