Sandy Needham has welcomed the decision to landscape part of the mothballed Westfield development site on Broadway.

She said the move to turn the proposed £320m shopping centre site into a temporary park would help boost the city’s image As revealed by the T&A, Bradford Council has completed a site survey and is exploring a raft of temporary uses for the dormant Broadway site. The plans would see hoardings moved back to the edge of the basement area that has been dug out, allowing half of the site to be levelled out and used by the public.

Sandy Needham, chief executive of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, said businesses in the Little Germany part of the city were delighted at the decision.

She said: “Businesses in Little Germany have felt cut off by the boarded up Westfield site. I have attended meetings on this issue and am sure businesses in this side of town will feel that they have been listened to and are delighted by the decision to put part of the site to a temporary use.

“It will open up links to the rest of the city centre and also be a good move for Bradford in general as the site has damaged its image since work stopped.”