City in top league for investment (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

City in top league for investment

4:42am Tuesday 11th March 2008

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Bradford has been ranked as the sixth best small European city for inward investment in the official listings of European Cities and Regions of the Future.

In a far-reaching study by the Financial Times group, the city also ranked 40th in the top 50 European Cities of the Future.

The listings place Bradford alongside world-class cities such as London, Madrid, Belfast and Lille as well as cities in some of Europe's emerging locations such as Serbia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Hungary and Turkey.

The double success for Bradford comes after a panel of investment and location experts from across Europe assessed the offering of Bradford for business and investors.

Bosses at fDi magazine were due to announce the findings during the MIPIM World Property Conference in Cannes, France, today. A team of regeneration chiefs from Bradford, including key figures from Bradford Centre Regeneration, are attending the three-day event.

Bradford's sixth-placed rating in the category for best foreign direct investment offering in Small European Cities meant it was only beaten by Edinburgh, Cardiff, Tallinn, Dundee and Cambridge.

More than 1,000 cities and regions across Europe applied to gain a ranking in the official development index, which is designed to identify locations with the best potential for economic growth and investment.

Councillor Andrew Mallinson, Bradford Council's executive member for regeneration, said: "To be ranked the sixth-best small city in Europe for inward investment is a great achievement and reflects the confidence external businesses have in the district.

"Bradford has all the right qualities for creating success - a huge amount of talent, a quality of life that attracts people from all over the world alongside an exciting £3bn regeneration programme.

"This ranking by investment experts supports the hard work underway by many people and groups in the city who are restoring confidence among the development, investment and business communities."

The competing cities and regions were rated according to their economic potential, including recent GDP growth, government economic initiatives and priorities. The panel of judges from top companies across Europe also took into account 75 indicators of attractiveness for investment and potential for economic development.

The final listings were compiled from regional data on economic performance, location costs, quality of life, transport, IT infrastructure, business regulation, tax and human resources to benchmark cities and regions across Europe.

Cities were rated on inward investment, including the volume and number of inward investments made in the past two years, the most significant investments made in 2007, including the level of investment and number of jobs created, and the most significant investments of 2006.

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