There can be little doubt now that the move to sell the Broadway site in Bradford to real estate management firm Meyer Bergman is a positive move.

Initial misgivings about what Westfield disposing of the ownership of the site might mean should now be assuaged somewhat.

From a position of “no news is bad news”, with no commitment to a start date on building the shopping centre, Westfield – which will build the project before handing it over to its new owners – is now saying that work is “expected to occur in the second half of 2013”.

It has been a long time coming, but this represents the firmest commitment yet to an actual start date.

The completion of the deal to transfer ownership, coupled with the announcement yesterday confirming the £35 million regeneration scheme that will give new shops in the city rate relief, will undoubtedly help to attract tenants to the new shopping centre.

But there is no doubt that many people will remain unconvinced until construction finally starts that it will ever happen, and it would have been useful to have a firmer commitment as to when work will finally begin, if only to temper the cynicism.

Hopefully that will come very soon, and in the meantime, we would appear to be closer to a Broadway shopping development then we have been for many years.