FOUR projects aiming to boost Bradford’s culture and economy can now go ahead after the Council successfully bid for £2.7 million of funding.

Bradford Council won the funding from the Leeds City Region Partnership, which will fund two economic projects and two cultural projects.

The first economic project will aim to boost recruitment and skills in the health and social care sector, with the second designed to improve employment opportunities in two of the district’s most deprived areas.

One of the cultural programmes will aim to support the sector be increasing activities, skills and infrastructure. These three programmes will share £2.2 million of the funding.

The second cultural programme will be funded by £500,000 from the Business Rates Pool at Leeds City Region, and will be run by Bradford Council in partnership with Bradford UNESCO City of Film and Screen Yorkshire, aiming to develop film and television skills in Bradford.

The Bradford District Health and Social Care One Workforce project will increase health and social jobs and skills by creating a Bradford Health and Social Care Economic Partnership, establishing a local recruitment and selection programme and developing a specialist research and training academy.

The Bradford and Keighley Community-Led Local Development programme will offer job seeking and application skills, provide taster and work experience sessions and help people plan career pathways in key high deprivation areas within Bradford district.

The programme will also run tailored business support with training, advice, mentoring and coaching sessions for local entrepreneurs

The third project will support the growth of festivals and other major cultural and sporting events. This will boost skills development, increase visitors to Bradford district and attract more creative businesses into the area.

The Bradford-based Screen Skills Diversity Project will help people across the region from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds to gain skills and jobs in the film and television industry. Training, apprenticeships, industry-specific work experience, careers information and advance, mentoring and bursaries will be provided and a Film and Television Industrial Centre of Excellence will link curriculums with the specific needs of the creative sector.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council, said: “We’re really pleased to have secured this funding for Bradford district in three key areas.

“We know that by 2030 we will need another 15,000 health workers in the district; this money will be an investment in the workforce of the future.

“The Screen Yorkshire investment we are leading for the region is absolutely right for Bradford as UNESCO’s first City of Film. Film increasingly is a strong contributor to our economic growth.

“It makes sense to collaborate through the Combined Authority with neighbouring local authorities. Without this collaboration we would never have been given this extra cash from government.”

David Wilson, director of Bradford UNESCO City of Film, added: “We have seen a huge increase in film and television production across our region in recent years.

“There has also been an increase in other areas of the creative economy such as festivals and large-scale events. In many cases the workforce for these has been brought in from other areas of the UK.

“We now have an opportunity to address the shortfall and create a more diverse and dynamic sector for the future.

“This investment in skills development will complement some of the excellent training already available across the Leeds City Region.”