A fourth masterplan for the district which could see £1.2 billion of investment and the re-instatement of the Bradford Canal is set to be given the go ahead next week.

The scheme for the Canal Road corridor will be discussed at the meeting of Bradford Council's executive next Tuesday. Members will consider the feasibility of developing the corridor as a masterplan and creating a specialist team to move it forward.

Should approval be given, it will see the corridor joining Airedale, Manningham and the City Centre as priority projects to regenerate the district.

The executive will also consider creating an over-arching, Council-led team to guide and develop the new masterplan.

Independent experts have assessed the Canal Road corridor to have the potential to stimulate £1.2 billion of investment value on completion. The corridor could also see up to 8,000 new homes built on brownfield land close to the city centre. The cost of preparing the masterplan, design and supervision, getting the land together and constructing a navigable canal is estimated to be £86 million.

The route of the reinstated canal from Shipley to a city centre basin has also been reviewed and modified, which will reduce costs and enhance the development potential of the corridor. Realigning the canal will be part-funded by the Connecting Airedale transport project because it will also benefit.

Approximately 40 per cent of the land in the corridor is owned by the Council and an agreement has been reached with the principle land owners for the centre section of the corridor. Other land acquisitions would be made through partnership agreements, legal agreements or purchase. If not, compulsory purchase orders could be needed.

The Department for Communities and Local Government is due to announce the outcome of the Leeds City Region growth point bid this month and, if successful, Bradford would be able to share £174m for enabling works.

The Local Authority Business Growth Initiative set aside £250,000 towards the continuous development and management of the project and a further £250,000 next financial year, plus £500,000 annually, needs to be earmarked for the future.

An internal review identified four key issues: l the Council needs to work to promote the Canal Road corridor's regional status and integrate it with the district's other regeneration priorities l the Canal Road Masterplan needs to provide a solid base for the development of the Local Development Framework l the overall cost of the scheme and funding sources to finance it need identifying and testing l a time limit needs to be imposed to carry out the costing investigations so the new masterplan can be included in the Local Development Framework.

The Council's executive member for regeneration, Councillor Andrew Mallinson, said: "It has enormous potential and could make a massive difference to the Bradford district's economy and residents' lives.

"Delivering the project will be technically challenging and sets out a vision for completion in 15 years. It is an exciting project but there are a lot of hurdles to overcome and these will need to be carefully considered at the meeting."

e-mail: jo.winrow @telegraphandargus.co.uk