Bradford Council's regeneration supremo has accused the Government of short-changing the city by cutting expected grants to support business development and regeneration.

Councillor Andrew Mallinson, the Council's executive member for regeneration, says that unless the authority can wrestle more cash from ministers, some Council support services could suffer.

He said the £3.3m allocated to Bradford is less than half what was expected under the Government's Local Authority Business Growth Incentives scheme which rewards councils that promote enterprise, jobs and local business growth.

Coun Mallinson said: "We received about £6 million under the LAGBI scheme last year and were expecting around £7m or £8m this year. Because of the timing of the announcement, the expected amount has already been factored into the Council's overall budget so if we do not receive the full amount we will have to decide how to cut our cloth.

"If confirmed, this will be a real backward step for Bradford and our efforts to support business growth and development."

Based on original expectations, councillors doubled the amount of LAGBI cash allocated to the Canal Road Corridor scheme to £500,000 to cover engineering feasibility work.

Although this amount would probably be secure, some areas of the Council's work may have to be trimmed unless a case can be made for more grants.

Coun Mallinson anticipated that any cuts could fall in areas such as education and health care which had a direct impact on business through developing skills and keeping people fit to work.

The Council has 15 days to challenge the grant announcement and Coun Mallinson is also writing to Local Government Minister John Healey to complain about the way the LAGBI scheme is administered.

The LAGBI grants take into account of the any rise in business rates achieved through regeneration.

In Bradford the Broadway development and the proposed Marks & Spencer distribution centre on Rooley Lane would provide high rate income and should attract higher LAGBI grants Craven Council is due to receive an extra £187,000 in LAGBI grants.