After the bad news of plans to shed 270 jobs at Filtronic plc's Saltaire factory by shifting production to China comes the rather better potential news of the creation of a possible 260 other jobs at another branch of the company in Otley Road at Charlestown, Baildon.

It is a great shame that those 270 jobs are set to go from the Saltaire site, which manufactures mobile-phone components, but seems to be a sign of the times as volume manufacturing in so many industries moves out of the UK in search of cheap labour elsewhere.

It is even more of a shame that many of the people shaken out of those jobs are unlikely to be able to walk into the new jobs that would be created. The staff the company would be looking for if its development plan goes ahead will be specialists in the field of designing and manufacturing defence communications systems - the sort of work which for security reasons is best kept in this country. However, the company's commitment to Bradford is welcome.

The additional plan to build 94 apartments, a hotel, shop and other offices alongside the new factory is an interesting one, although comparisons with Saltaire are perhaps not entirely accurate.

These apartments will not be exclusively for sale to Filtronics staff who choose to live close to the site. Many may be sold off to other people, and being in a prime valley-bottom greenfield location will command good prices. Sir Titus built his village to ensure that his workers had homes at rents they could afford, not as a commercial property development.