Born-and-bred Bradfordians often complain that too many decisions about the city are taken by people who either don't live here or have moved here only recently to take up a specific job. The feeling, rightly or wrongly, is that truly local people are in a better position to appreciate Bradford's needs because of their insider understanding.

There will surely be few complaints, then, about Bradford Centre Regeneration's intention to advertise for district-based urban designers, planners, architects, engineers, landscape designers and even legal experts to help to draw up the plans necessary to turn Will Alsop's controversial masterplan for the city centre into a workable reality.

As Sayeed Hafajee, operations manager of BRC, rightly points out, people who know the area are well placed to be able to move the project forward because they understand the local issues involved.

Let's hope there is a good response to BRC's bid to harness the "passion, support and ambition" of Bradford's professional communities. There is a lot of talent in this city. Making the masterplan work is an ideal opportunity for local professionals to rise to a homegrown challenge and show the outside world what they can do.

If a splendid new Bradford can be created through the skills, enthusiasm and energy of the people who live and work here, what a tremendous advert that will be for this city. And by keeping the work "in house" money will be retained in the local economy rather than going into the profits and pay packets of outsiders to be spent elsewhere.