The future of Bradford is in the hands of its children. What they are able to make of their chances in life will determine the sort of place this becomes. The better the start they get the better equipped they will be to meet the challenges that come their - and Bradford's - way.

In that context, the £10.5 million awarded to the district by the Government to build a new network of children's centres for disadvantaged youngsters is excellent news. Because of a wide range of social and economic factors, there will be no problems finding enough children who are qualified to benefit from the scheme.

In fact it has been estimated that more than 16,000 of them aged under five will be able to take advantage of the new centres, which will build on the existing Sure Start programmes to provide child care, early education, parenting support and child and family health services.

The award to the district is by far the biggest in Yorkshire, almost twice the sum awarded to Leeds. That Bradford children are being given a boost on this scale is welcome acknowledgement by the Government of the problems which exist here.

The broad aims of the scheme, as announced by the Secretary of State for Education and Science, are to tackle child poverty by improving children's social and educational development. The sound theory behind it is that if they get a good start they will stand a better chance of keeping up. Or as Councillor David Ward said: "Investment at this age is the most important and it pays dividends 100 times over."