Bradford Council is set to ensure the district is a safer place to live - by bringing in measures to design out crime from new developments.

A ground-breaking document will provide the template to which developers must refer - taking anti-crime measures further than ever before.

It follows on from the pioneering work by Royds Community Association on three once crime-ridden estates.

Christopher Hughes, the Council's head of plans and performance, described the crime-prevention supplementary planning document as "seminal".

He said: "The main objective of planning for crime prevention is to prevent or deter criminal activity and anti-social behaviour by reducing the availability of opportunities to commit crime, achieved through the careful design of buildings, streets and spaces to create safer and more pleasant environments."

Planning for crime prevention requires the developer and architect to consider potential crime risks and to come up with design solutions to address them.

Mr Hughes said Royds was an example of best practice in designing out crime.

Since the Royds Community Association was formed in 1994, it began a close partnership with the police's architectural liaison officer. With help of £31 million of Government regeneration money, it refurbished 1,500 homes on the rundown estates of Buttershaw, Delph Hill and Woodside, and built 1,000 homes.

Care was taken to ensure the buildings would be secure - lighting was improved, snickets were closed and better use was made of waste land.

A dramatic fall in crime ensued with burglaries down by 82 per cent, leading to the project receiving a national Secured By Design Award.

As well as crime prevention through planning guidance there is a also a report on planning obligations and affordable housing in the city centre.

The planning obligations document looks to the addition of legal agreements on applications that would otherwise not be granted. These are already widely used but setting out the strict guidelines ensures clarity and regularity.

Details include a "common fund" to be used where a number of single developments in a particular area would together have a significant impact. Contributions could then be made through individual planning obligations.

The report on affordable housing for city centre developments follows research by consultants into how to create a balanced housing market there.

It concludes that the city centre housing market will not be damaged by imposing affordable housing requirements on development. Bradford's regeneration and masterplan vision for city centre living make this of particular note.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, executive member for environment and culture, said: "Clearly we don't want to be driving developers away. But we will be asking them for full details of their city centre development to enable us to assess any affordable housing provision.

"These are not planning taxes."

All three documents will go before the Council's decision-making executive on Tuesday asking for approval to begin a six-week consultation period on each of them.

Public events are also in the pipeline, inviting developers, housing associations and members of the public.

e-mail: jo.winrow@bradford.newsquest.co.uk