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Retail expert says 'desperate measures' needed over Broadway site

3:19pm Thursday 18th March 2010 in


Developers Westfield should be given every encouragement to re-start Bradford’s stalled £320 million Broadway shopping development, retail expert John Bywater told the Bradford Property Forum.

He said: “I know the guys at Westfield. They are trusted and liked by shoppers and retailers alike, so Bradford is incredibly lucky to have them.

“But they are not going to take inappropriate risks. They are tens of millions adrift in Bradford at the moment.”

Mr Bywater said it was a “desperate situation that needs desperate measures” to get Westfield on to site.

He said it would be great if Bradford Council, Yorkshire Forward or the Government could take an equity stake to encourage Westfield to start building now.

He said the authorities could consider:

  • Tax Increment Financing, a public financing method.
  • Accelerated Development Zone, a scheme that allows councils to borrow funds for development against future business rates revenue.
  • Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas – under which European members are given the option of using some of their EU grant funding to make repayable investments in projects forming part of an integrated plan for sustainable urban development.
  • Mr Bywater said: “Bradford has got to take a look at all these things and say we are going to do this, we are going to get Westfield on to site now, not wait for ten years while they mess around.”

Property forum chairman Andrew Mason said: “It’s important to take on board John’s comments and think what we can do to encourage Westfield.

“The worst case scenario is ten years, whereas we all want them to start tomorrow, but the truth probably lies somewhere in between and my best guess is two to four years.”

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Comments(11)

albion says...
3:38pm Thu 18 Mar 10

In other words throw more money at it!

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Joedavid says...
3:44pm Thu 18 Mar 10

albion wrote:
In other words throw more money at it!
Yes but it will be yours and mine!
Headline says," 'desperate measures' needed over Broadway site."
I think that means get rid of Westfield I for one had enough of them.

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Murchy says...
4:40pm Thu 18 Mar 10

I notice they're not messing around with other projects... http://bit.ly/9iaCDH

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NOTSOCOMMENSENSE says...
5:12pm Thu 18 Mar 10

If they started now it would probably be ready in two to three years just in time for the country to start coming out of reccesion and they should then be able to let all the units if they wait say 5 years to start we will probably be having another dip in the economy and they will struggle to get any one to commit again vicious circle.do not throw any more public money at them though if the insist on leaving the town like a bomb site the council should get their act together show some backbone and issue a compulsary purchase order for the site at market value which would be low at the moment and offer it to someone else with the balls to take a risk and invest in bradford

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old speckled hen says...
6:30pm Thu 18 Mar 10

so what happens to our green medows ,, we were promised or drunks and druggies need somewhere to beg

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webess says...
7:27pm Thu 18 Mar 10

old speckled hen wrote:
so what happens to our green medows ,, we were promised or drunks and druggies need somewhere to beg
Does these posts come from an automated bot whichs scans for the keyword "Westfield" then posts the same drivel every time?

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old speckled hen says...
6:45am Fri 19 Mar 10

YES ,,,, i am a bot who belives this is a spin story and NOWT will happen on the westfield site !!!!!

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Avro says...
8:09am Fri 19 Mar 10

I agree with one thing, the Westfield site will still be a hole 10 years down the line!

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enviroMENTAL says...
8:35am Fri 19 Mar 10

If you could get a guarantee of a start and the public could claw the money back in business taxes or some other method
later, then invest the money. The future of Bradford surely goes hand in glove with the success of this scheme? I plan on staying here and so will my kids so I want Bradford to improve.

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Bari110 says...
10:28am Fri 19 Mar 10

I say get "WASTE-FIELD" out now!! As for a shopping centre improve the one we already have & use this site to combine both train stations, interchange & forster sq, into one like all the successful cities!

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pss says...
2:56pm Fri 19 Mar 10

There are plenty of vacant/empty properties in the centre of Bradford.

The problem isn't lack of retail space it's the fact no one thinks they can make a profit from opening a business here.

Apart from creating some employment for the building trades there's no point building more shops.

We can't fill the existing retail premises we already have which indicates if Westgate did build this it would have trouble filling the units.

Invest in the existing structures.

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