There has been much speculation about Westfield’s mothballed shopping centre site in Bradford over the last day or so.

The situation arose when a BBC programme featured MP Gerry Sutcliffe stating: “It is my understanding that Westfield are prepared to discuss moving out if there’s an appropriate agreement.”

The Council, for its part, denied it had had any talks with the developer over it buying back the site and called on the MP to explain his comments in more detail.

Today Mr Sutcliffe has done just that, stating that, at a meeting with Westfield, he and fellow local MP Terry Rooney asked the developer: “What would it take to sell it back to the Council?”

According to Mr Sutcliffe, Westfield said: “We would have to recover our costs and look at the market forces at the time.”

Now anyone can see that that is not the same as the Council trying to buy back the site or Westfield actively looking to sell, as some surmised.

In fact what has emerged may have more to do with our MPs trying to find out what options exist so they can apply pressure to try to get things moving again – an understandable aim and one which may yet be necessary.

However, with the economic situation being as it is, keeping our collective nerve and waiting for an upturn, though frustrating, still seems to be the best option at present.

After all, while there is no doubt Bradford needs a shopping centre, no-one can realistically expect Westfield or anyone else to try to provide one while the country is in the grip of the longest recession since records began.