A SUSTAINABLE and self-sustaining economy is what Bradford needs to secure its future success.

Bradford Council leader, Councillor Dave Green, laid bear the challenges the city faces against budget cuts and is calling on the local business community to come to the council with their entrepreneurial ideas.

Possibly one of the best examples of the council and business community working together is North Parade, recently listed as a finalist in the City Location category of the Great British High Street competition supporting those working to revive, adapt and diversify high streets.

The citation for the awards explains how North Parade was rundown, with one in three shops vacant. Four years later, and thanks largely to the council who supported local entrepreneurs, "it is now a flourishing independent quarter with vacancy rates of just seven per cent".

"North Parade is as a result of the private and public sector working together in a way that Bradford has been really good at certainly over the last five years, and we need now to build on that to get people to the next level," says Cllr Green.

The success is in part down to Bradford's City Centre Growth Zone - the £17.6m Government funding package secured by Bradford Council who provided match funding to launch the scheme in November 2012.

Funding aside, Cllr Green credits the entrepreneurial spirit of those who opened their cafes, bars and businesses and have 'created a real buzz' in that area of the city.

Now it is hoped that confidence spreads throughout the city following the opening of The Broadway shopping centre on November 5.

"It has been a growing air of confidence in and around the city centre and in other parts of the district," says Cllr Green.

This renewed confidence is also evident in the shops opening around the periphery of 'The Broadway' and the interest in some of properties in the historic Little Germany. "The trick is we have to build on that in a sustainable way," says Cllr Green.

He talks of creating employment, creating wealth and looking at innovative ways of doing that as part of a 'New Deal' with local people.

Cllr Green puts forward recycling as an example which could be developed further by businesses. He is encouraging people to think about how they can recycle more and, this in turn, could lead to a successful business idea.

This will also reduce the costs councils all over the country are becoming more conscious of due to budget cuts.

Cllr Green explains in financial terms the council will be about half the size it was in 2010 by 2020. "We will have the same statutory duties and the same responsibilities," he says.

The ability to directly invest in regeneration will be curtailed but the more they can save and the more entrepreneurial and self-sustaining Bradford becomes will be of great benefit to its future.

"We need to get the upward trajectory we have had for the last three or four years. We need to sustain that and make Bradford, as a district, sustainable itself rather than being in a position where it is asking for help.

"What we need to do is be in a position where, in a few years time, we have created an economy that is self sustaining and brings together some of those real opportunities, some of which will be of massive benefit to Bradford business and some of which will be less - there are places where we can fit in quite snugly and some where it isn't our specialism but we need to grow our own business. We need to look at where there are gaps in the regional economy."

Conversations with communities interested in getting involved are already taking place. Last month a series of themed weeks focused on Bradford district's four priorities including good schools; Better skills, more good jobs and a growing economy; Better health, better lives; and Safe, Clean and Active communities.

The aim is to get people thinking about how they can operate in the district in a different way which will recognise the financial challenge the council faces through austerity.

"The challenge is not going to get any easier. We have to keep that at the forefront of our thinking because if we don't the challenge that faces Bradford will grow over the next five to 10 years and we will be running to catch up - and that is something we do not want to do," says Cllr Green.

Bradford needs to be 'bullish' and 'optimistic' and one of the first places where investors look in the North.

* To share your ideas email: conversation.newdeal@bradford.gov.uk. For more information visit bradford.gov.uk/newdeal or to find out about the Great British High Street competition visit thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk