Schoolchildren's bright ideas could shape the future of Bradford.

At the start of term, students from specialist business school Laisterdyke High were set a challenge to come up with creative solutions for tackling a range of local problems, including drug abuse, road accidents and fly-tipping.

Pupils from each year presented their final results with posters, booklets and leaflets.

Their audience was a panel of influential figures, including Asian Business Development Network chairman Zulfi Hussain, Masoud Razzaq, who runs Thornbury Youth and Community Centre, and Bradford Vision's neighbourhood renewal officer, Elaine Appelbee.

Bradford Vision, the local strategic partnership which has backed the project, will use the ideas when it draws up neighbour action plans for the area.

Mrs Appelbee said: "Getting their views is as important as getting adults' views and we have to involve them in finding solutions.

"We see young people as the problem, not the solution. They are aware of that and it makes them feel uncomfortable.

"This type of project will signal to them we are serious about them as citizens and will show adults that all young people are not the problem and that many are prepared to act at a community level."

Three groups of children identified drugs as a key concern, saying there should be greater awareness of the effects, covert CCTV cameras to detect drug dealing, better help for drug users and dealers when they leave prison and more activities at community centres to stop children falling into the drugs culture.

Year 11 student Roxanna Khan, 15, who hopes to become a nursery manager, took on the problem of fly-tipping with her group, calling for better enforcement using cameras, on-the-spot fines and suggesting a new community centre on disused land in the area.

She said: "I do think our solutions could improve things. It was a good idea to have this challenge and shows it's not always adults that are right. Children have some good ideas too."

Since September when the school became Bradford's first specialist business and enterprise college, the school's business and enterprise adviser, Gerard Liston, a former teacher and business consultant, has seen huge benefits.

He said: "It makes us distinctive and it's easier to build bridges between the school and local businesses. Our aim is to encourage children to be enterprising, instilling them with important skills that will be valuable in later life."

The school has set up a website to encourage and promote its work with local businesses at www.laisterdykeenterprise.org.uk.