A SCHEME designed to boost the district's economy has been accused of operating as a "secret society".

Bradford Council's Producer City concept aims to give the district a national – and even global – reputation for being a good place to make things, from car parts to artwork.

But the authority's Conservative group leader, Councillor Glen Miller, has raised concerns that its boards are not publishing any minutes from their meetings, despite assurances last year that they would do so.

He said he was getting increasingly concerned that taxpayers' money was being ploughed into "a secret society that doesn't produce minutes".

He said if that were the case, he would see it as a "slap in the face" for the district.

The initiative was created by Bradford Council and is being run by Council, business and education figures through a main board and three sub-boards.

In November last year, a report to the authority's Governance and Audit Committee said much of the Producer City's work would be published online.

It said: "Agendas, approved minutes and non-confidential reports and papers of the Producer City Board and associated delivery boards will be accessible to the public."

But Cllr Miller said he had tried and failed to find any published minutes of any of its meetings, which started in December.

In particular, he raised concerns about the Producer City's 'place' board, which is led by Bradford Council and aims to create the infrastructure for businesses to flourish.

The board is chaired by Mike Cowlam, the authority's strategic director for regeneration.

A Council spokesman said the place board did produce minutes, but that "the decision on whether they will be made public has yet to be taken by the main Producer City board".

And Mr Cowlam said: "The Producer City Place board does not intend to be secretive.

"We do need to make decisions in the right order and the Place board must wait for the Producer City board to consider its policy on the publication of papers so that it can be consistent."

The Council spokesman added that the board did not have a budget or hand out grants, instead relying on the resources of "partners both in the public and private sector".