Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe says the time has come to “clear the decks” and think again about the direction of Bradford’s regeneration.

Bradford South MP Mr Sutcliffe would like to see fresh discussions between the city’s MPs and leading members of Bradford Council.

He said that, although nobody wanted to see any of the city’s major regeneration projects fail, it was time to acknowledge that several schemes were not progressing as quickly as necessary.

Mr Sutcliffe said the vacant Broadway site, home to Westfield’s stalled £320m shopping development, was tarnishing Bradford’s reputation.

He said: “The Westfield thing has become a reputational issue and I don’t think we should rule out trying to get it back from them.

“Everywhere I go around the country, people are asking ‘what’s going on with the shopping centre in Bradford?’ “It looks a long way off and, in the current economic circumstances, there does not appear to be a strong chance of it happening. If we could come to a deal to lease it from them, we should possibly have a look at it.”

Mr Sutcliffe said it was also time to look at a possible Crossrail link between the two city centre stations, as called for by Bradford Rail Users Group.

He said: “Can we look at engineering solutions and see what can be done? Is it possible to make Crossrail happen?

“The weight of opinion at the moment means it’s a good time to clear the decks. One of the criticisms of Bradford is that there is no list of priorities.”

Councillor Adrian Naylor, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration, said: “If the minister is specifically suggesting that he can bring much-needed Government financial support for the district’s transport infrastructure and other regeneration projects, then we will welcome the opportunity to discuss the matter.”