Senior leaders in Bradford faced tough questions from children about the problems facing the district.

Birth defect rates, child sexual exploitation, gang culture and the future of the high street were some of the hard-hitting topics discussed when the leader of Bradford Council, the area’s police commissioner and health bosses visited a secondary school.

Pupils at Kings Science Academy, in Lidget Green, are running a project called ‘Make Bradford Better’, working with people in positions of power to change their communities for the better.

Council leader Councillor David Green gave a talk on the city and its regeneration. One pupil asked what the biggest problem facing Bradford city centre was.

Coun Green said: “Lack of people, to be blunt. We don’t have the sort of shops that people want.”

But he said he expected things to change when work started on the Westfield shopping centre.

In another room, experts from the Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Group, which oversees health services like GP surgeries, gave a talk. GP Dr Waheed Hussain was asked about the causes of Bradford’s high birth defect rates.

He said: “There have been discussions on our board, particularly about first-cousin relationships.

“At the moment it’s the cultural norm and there are some clear benefits – social benefits, financial benefits, marital benefits. There needs to be more done about raising awareness of some of the risks, but what we can’t do is dictate to people who you should marry.”

West Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner, Mark Burns-Williamson, was asked what he was doing to tackle problems such as drug dealing, anti-social behaviour and sexual exploitation of children.

Some of the children shared their ideas for improving the district.

Asked how they would develop the city centre, Zaynah Qamar, aged 13, said it could include more restaurants, building on its reputation as being the UK’s ‘curry capital’.

She said: “Instead of just curry, we do have an Eastern European population now so we could have Polish stuff, maybe Italian and Chinese.”

Nimrah Khan, 12, said: “We need tourists to stay longer. We need to market ourselves better. I don’t see much about Bradford anywhere.”