7:36pm Thursday 20th May 2010
By Will Kilner
The new chairman of Bradford Civic Society has spoken of his “strong affection” for Bradford and his desire to help the city move forward in the coming years.
Alan Hall, 64, who was brought up in Lidget Green and now lives in Bingley, has taken over from Anthony Mann.
Mr Hall, a semi-retired education consultant who used to be head of Belle Vue Girls’ School, said Bradford was in need of a catalyst to spark wider regeneration.
He said: “A boost is what’s needed for Bradford.
“Whether it’s a refurbished Odeon, a Crossrail link or part of a Government Ministry being relocated here – that’s what’s required. At the moment it seems that we are exporting talent rather than importing it.
“I hear people say ‘I never go to the centre of Bradford unless I have to.’ We need to attract people back. It’s not necessarily that they are going to come straight away for retail. There needs to be other things that attract people first.”
Mr Hall has been involved in two meetings with Barra Mac Ruairi, Bradford Council’s strategic director for regeneration.
He said: “Barra mentioned the fact that the Council has been talking to people in London about the possibility of relocating parts of ministries and departments to Bradford because the rental costs are only a fifth of what they are in London.
“At a time when the Government is looking to cut costs, it would make perfect sense. It struck me that a really fine building such as Conditioning House, which is falling into disrepair, could be refurbished to house the men from the ministry.
“If you get 200 or 300 middle-range civil servants to come and work in Bradford, this also might encourage Westfield to re-start their Forster Square development.”
Another dilemma facing Bradford is what to do with the 6,400 listed buildings in the city.
Mr Hall said: “We are not a preservation-at-all-costs society. There are things like Highpoint that I would be happy to see demolished, but what we want to do is keep what’s best of the old and use it for new purposes.”
Under Mr Hall’s chairmanship, the society will continue to back calls for a cross-city rail link and will lobby for the former Odeon cinema to be retained with a new use.
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