WORK is starting this week to create a temporary garden in the city centre following the demolition of the former Tyrls police station.

The landscaped area next to City Park will include several steel seats, a grassed mound, and planting areas with flowers and shrubs.

A ramp from Princes Way will ensure the garden is accessible to wheelchair users and parents with prams.

The work, which has been commissioned by Bradford Council, is scheduled to be completed in October. The garden will remain until the site is turned over for a new commercial development some time in the next few years.

Staff at the authority's regeneration department are currently marketing the area to developers and are hoping to create as much interest as possible in the prime site.

Councillor David Green, leader of the Council, said: "This colourful garden adjacent to our award-winning City Park is the best way of making use of this space until we can create a first class business area."

He added: "We have just started the active marketing of the site and there is already some interest. We hope it won't be too long before we can make some firm announcements."

The temporary garden follows on from a similar scheme created in 2010 on The Broadway shopping centre site, where an urban garden was created on part of the site while the development was put on hold.

Outline plans are already in place for three new office blocks of between three and five storeys on the Tyrls site, which aim to provide 93,000 sq ft of grade-A office space, enough to house 700 employees. By clearing the site and having planning permission in place, the Council is hoping it will be more attractive to any potential developer.

The Tyrls building was partly demolished in 2010 as City Park was being built. Some of the building remained as it was needed to access cells which were connected to the neighbouring magistrates’ court by a tunnel.

Replacement cells were built at the other side of the court building and opened this year, meaning the remainder of the police station could be brought down.

The work to build the new cells as well as demolish the remainder of the former police station and clear the site for redevelopment is expected to cost £4.5 million, which is being funded by the Homes and Communities Agency and cash secured from the Regional Growth Fund.