It has been hailed as the biggest plan of its kind and a chance for Bradford and Leeds to put aside traditional rivalries and work together for the good of the regional economy. Reporter WILL KILNER examines the details of the new blueprint for regenerating Bradford and the surrounding cities and towns.

"To develop an internationally recognised city-region, to raise our economic performance, to spread prosperity across the whole of our city region, and to promote a better quality of life for all those who live here."

This is the shared vision of Bradford Council and ten other authorities in Yorkshire which have collaborated to draw up the Leeds City Region Development Programme - an in-depth 180-page plan designed to allow the heart of northern England's economy to function better.

The plan, unveiled to business and political leaders yesterday, proposes an integrated approach to housing, business and transport to allow a region which stretches from North Yorkshire to Barnsley to operate as a single economic space for the good of its 2.8 million inhabitants.

The strategies outlined are designed to create 150,000 new jobs and lead to investment of £7 billion in the region, with an overall economy growth of four per cent.

Councillor Kris Hopkins, leader of Bradford Council, said it was time for the "tension" between Leeds and Bradford to come to an end.

Coun Hopkins, speaking at the launch at HBOS in Halifax, said: "Economically we are connected to Leeds. If we can't start thinking in a city-region context we can't compete in the global economy where we are seeing the exciting transformation of India and China.

"We have been the poor cousin to Leeds for too long. This is a chance for us to become an equal partner."

Coun Hopkins said Bradford had an "exciting" part to play in the regional economic plan, with one of its main functions being to provide workers for the economy.

"We have got a 480,000 population, 103,000 of which are under 16," he said.

"We want to make sure they get a good education and get the right skills to make a full contribution to the economy."

The Leeds City Region Partnership identifies transport as an underlying inhibitor' to the growth of the region's economy and seeks a £4.5 billion, 25-year solution to combat growing congestion.

The business case for these schemes will be presented in the House of Commons on Monday, November 20, in time to influence the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review next year.

Kieran Preston, director general of Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, said: "We are going to make the message clear to Ministers that we are proposing a 21st century transport plan that's fit for purpose - £4.5 billion sounds a lot until you compare it with the economic, social and environmental impact of not doing it."

TRANSPORT

The vision is to enable the city region to function as a single economic space by connecting all core centres with each other and surrounding communities.

Transport links are vital to support the forecast 150,000 new jobs that will be created in the city region in the next decade in areas where regeneration is planned, notably central Bradford, Airedale and the heavy woollen area around Mirfield, Dewsbury and Batley.

Electrification of more rail routes is proposed to build on the success of the Airedale and Wharfedale lines.

Extending electrification west of Leeds via Halifax and Bradford Interchange will create an east-west spine' for the city region between Bradford, Halifax, York and Selby.

This would lead to additional capacity, faster journey times, improved passenger ambience and environmental benefits.

The report says a heavy rail link to Leeds-Bradford Airport is unlikely to be affordable but adds that tram-trains could offer a low-cost option.

The report also recommends investment in a tram-train service between Forster Square and Guiseley.

Bus travel will also have an important role to play in delivering the transport vision, with major improvements proposed on main corridors throughout the region.

Highways solutions include the long-awaited Shipley eastern link road and the Bradford outer ring road. Motorway widening on the M62, already under way, and bus improvements on the A641 corridor would be designed to improve links between Bradford and Huddersfield.

Motorway widening will also improve links between Bradford and Leeds on the traffic-choked M62, according to the report.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

The partnership says investment should be targeted on financial and business services, bio-science and medical research, as well as the digital and creative industries.

The report says the region's leaders should lobby for the creation of a science hub capable of hosting research facilities of global importance.

Meanwhile, Financial and Business Services (FBS) are identified as key growth sectors, especially in Bradford where a substantial upturn in employment and output growth are expected.

Bradford and Leeds are the only two Yorkshire cities expected to exceed the UK average economic growth in the next decade, according to the report.

It recommends a strategic approach to the FBS sector, led by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward. Each city-region centre, such as Bradford, would then need to explore its opportunities and niches within the FBS sector framework, creating a wider regional market while reducing the pressure to develop Leeds offices.

The growth of the FBS sector would be backed up by better transport connectivity. In terms of railways, extension of the Metro card system would integrate outlying areas such as Skipton with city station office sites such as Forster Square in Bradford.

The report says linkages between Leeds' firms and businesses in Bradford and other city-region businesses need strengthening through partnership working and secondments.

More out-of-town office parks, more engagement in the sector from the region's higher education establishments and more best practice' information-sharing between employers should also be encouraged, the report argues.

HOUSING

The report recommends a number of interventions, including the development of upper-end housing to attract and retain suitable employees and developing affordable' housing to attract key workers.

It suggests relieving pressure on overheating housing markets - Craven, Harrogate, York and Leeds - by investing in land supply and promoting alternative areas.

The report says it may be fruitful to adopt a strategy of guided displacement' to be achieved through imaginative developments in larger settlements in the Aire Valley and through trying to capture demand from the Manchester City Region, where affordability concerns are intensifying.

The report notes that much of the future employment growth in the city region will be centred on Bradford. It says there is also rising housing demand as a result of Bradford's role in attracting high levels of international in-migration and indigenous household growth, not least in ethnic minority communities. And the report argues that Bradford can offer a more distinctive residential offer than many other cities as a result of its attractive, but often run-down, residential built form and its vibrant and changing identity.

The city-region partnership says these factors will be reinforced if the radical proposals for redeveloping Bradford city centre come to fruition. The report says parts of the Spen Valley are under-exploited, but says new housing must be distinctive.

Iconic design - which is of growing importance - will capture the attention of people influenced by cultural' as well as economic' factors.

The report says: "The success of the Lister Mills scheme, in Manningham, is critical here, and could herald similar programmes elsewhere in the cotton and woollen heritage segments of the city region."

e-mail: will.kilner@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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