A £1 MILLION scheme to revamp part of Bradford city centre is on schedule and on budget, according to the man overseeing the project.

And it's just part of an "unprecedented" number of city-centre improvements under way, worth a total of £3.5 million, as Bradford gets ready for its new shopping centre.

The development of Kirkgate is designed to create an attractive thoroughfare linking Westfield’s under-construction Broadway development with city-centre stalwart the Kirkgate Centre.

Workmen are creating a new "shopper-friendly" Kirkgate Square at the junction of Kirkgate and Darley Street, featuring four raised beds filled with shrubs.

Nine semi-mature trees are being planted to give the area a greener feel, while the pedestrianised street itself is being repaved in Yorkshire stone, granite and Italian Porphyry tiles to blend in with work already completed in nearby areas.

Leading the project is principal engineer Chris Bedford, from Bradford Council, who said they were on track to finish the project by mid-November.

He said it was one of a number of city-centre public realm schemes being funded by the government's Regional Growth Fund, which have to be completed by next March as a condition of the funding.

Improvements around Bradford's two railway stations are also well under way, with trees being planted, paving renewed and lighting installed to draw people's attention to features like St George's Hall and the distinctive arches on the approach to Forster Square station.

READ MORE ON THE BROADWAY DEVELOPMENT AND SEE LIVE PICTURES OF THE CONSTRUCTION

Then revamps of Bank Street and the area surrounding the Alhambra theatre will start in the new year.

Mr Bedford said: "Normally, we would have had one of these projects a year and and now we have got four within six months. It's unprecedented, really."

Earlier this month, traders praised the city-centre improvements, saying it was exciting to see the work progressing.

Mr Bedford said he was pleased to get that kind of response.

He said: "Sometimes you get a lot of criticism, and it is nice when everybody is buying into what you are trying to do.

"I think, to be honest, things seem to have changed a lot since Westfield has taken off. People now are just a lot more upbeat."

He said while work would always cause some disruption to local businesses, they aimed to keep this to a minimum, and they planned to break off from work during the busy Christmas period.