MORE than 50 people from civic societies across the region have gathered in Bradford to hear about recent regeneration efforts across the city.

The Yorkshire and Humber Association of Civic Societies held its autumn conference in the city, the first time the group had met in the city.

The meeting was held at City Hall and delegates were given a presentation on the former Odeon building, which is set to be restored and reopened as a major live music venue.

Earlier in the day, delegates were taken on a tour of the Sunbridge Wells tunnels redevelopment, which was arranged by the national umbrella group for civic societies – Civic Voice.

The development, which opened in December, was highly commended in the Civic Voice Design Awards earlier this year.

In addition those that attended the conference were also given a tour of Bradford city centre's conservation areas by Bradford Civic Society's vice-chairman, Alan Hall.

Si Cunningham, chairman of the Bradford group said: "We had people from towns, cities and villages across Yorkshire come to Bradford to see and hear about a few of the exciting things we've got going on here.

"It was a great chance to show off some of our success stories, but also share some of our challenges too.

"A lot of delegates hadn't been to Bradford in some years, and were impressed by the setting and what our city had to offer.

"I've taken a few things away too – particularly around how we can make more of celebrating our heritage."

In addition, as the theme for the meeting was environmental sustainability, delegates also heard from Barney Lerner, the chairman of the Friends of Bradford's becks group about their efforts to clean up and promote the city's waterways.

Prof Lerner added: "It was a good meeting. There was a lot of interest the becks. People also liked the idea that we had produced a book of walks around the city's becks."

He added that he had also spoken about their work to combat pollution by employing an urban pollution hunter, and that their findings and appeals to Bradford Council were resulting in a meeting to discuss what could be done.

The Yorkshire and Humber Association of Civic Societies is the regional association of civic societies, which holds regular conferences. The group is supported by Historic England and its membership consists of local civic societies and civic trusts in the region.