BRADFORD Council and arts groups through the district should back Leeds’ bid to become European Capital of Culture, according to a new report.

At a meeting of the Council’s executive tomorrow, members will be asked to officially support Leeds’ bid for the 2023 title.

A report to the meeting says the bid: “presents a significant opportunity for Leeds and the wider region, including Bradford, in terms of cultural, social and economic benefits.”

But one senior councillor told the Telegraph & Argus this recommendation left him cold, claiming Leeds provided minimal support when Bradford made an unsuccessful bid for the 2008 title.

The report says the Leeds bid could be considered a wider “Northern” bid that would benefit Bradford’s cultural groups and businesses, especially as the cities are so close.

It says: “Leeds itself is still thought to ‘punch below its weight’ culturally in comparison to European cities of a similar scale. It is a city currently better known for retail and sport than it is for culture. Leeds’ bid in 2023 is just one response to this in terms of raising a collective aspiration. The Leeds’ bid offers a further opportunity to show that through culture, it can collectively showcase the success, talent and aptitude of Leeds and the wider region on a national and international stage.

“With no other bidding cities in the North, Leeds would like its bid to be fully adopted as a ‘Northern bid’.”

It says that when Liverpool was Capital of Culture in 2008, the wider Merseyside and Cheshire regions benefitted, with more hotel beds sold outside the city than in the city centre. The hope is that Bradford could reap similar benefits.

The report concludes: “Cultural organisations from Bradford should be encouraged to be involved in the bid. This bid provides an opportunity to develop a regional brand for the cultural offer and should stimulate more joined up ways of working between local authorities and cultural organisations across the region.”

However, Councillor Simon Cooke, leader of the Conservatives on Bradford Council, said: “I’m inclined to say that I’m going to give Leeds’ bid the same amount of support Leeds gave to Bradford’s bid. I don’t think this is something Bradford Council should necessarily support unless Bradford is going to get something out of this.

“Having been involved in the Bradford Capital of Culture bid, I don’t remember having been given much support from Leeds at all.”

Leeds will submit its bid in October, with a decision expected to be made in Autumn 2018.