A £12 million rate relief fund is to be created by Bradford Council to help new and existing businesses in the city centre that commit to employing and training local people.

The project will lead directly to new jobs for local people and it is hoped that over the three years it operates it will create hundreds of employment opportunities in the centre of Bradford. This is on top of the thousands of jobs expected to be created by the Westfield shopping centre in Broadway.

It comes as the latest figures show dole queues in the district are continuing to rise with 5.5 per cent of all people able to work in Bradford claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance – the highest in West Yorkshire.

The scheme is part of a wider investment in the city centre “growth zone” following a successful £17.6m bid to the Regional Growth Fund. A total of £12.5m of the RGF monies will be used to create a similar rate relief fund for tenants moving into the Westfield Broadway shopping centre.

The remaining Government money will be spent on works to link the shopping centre with Little Germany and the city’s other shopping areas, as well as on training to help people into the jobs created during construction and the retail jobs once the centre is up and running.

The business rate incentives are also part of a longer-term move to create more than 6,300 private sector jobs by 2020 in a central business district.

The Council has also promised to spend £4.4 million of public funds on the first stage of the project, which will include relocating the cells used by Bradford Magistrates’ Court, demolishing the old police station at the Tyrls to clear the site for 100,000 sq ft of office space, cafes and bars.

It means a total of almost £35m will be invested in the city centre between the Council and the Government.

Councillor David Green, the Council’s executive member for regeneration and economy, said: “What we don’t want to do is to be in a situation where new businesses coming into Bradford into the shopping centre have an advantage over the rest of the city centre. This will try to protect against businesses simply moving from Ivegate to Broadway.

“We are still working out the detail and as the Council’s element isn’t tied up with Treasury bureaucracy, we hope to be more flexible. We are looking at ways of getting the biggest bang for our buck.

“We also hope that we can develop it into a revolving fund to help local people benefit for longer.”