A bid has been submitted which could bring 5,000 new homes to Bradford along the planned canal corridor between the city centre and Shipley.

Council leaders in the region are calling on the Government to award the Leeds City Region with new growth status to allow it to access funding and support for the early development of key housing and regeneration sites.

Bradford Council leader, Councillor Kris Hopkins, has welcomed the bid.

He said: "Having 11 authorities working together for a common goal to enhance the economy will have a huge impact and benefit for all the residents who live in the Leeds City Region. Any new funding for housing and regeneration is a big plus for the county."

The Leeds City Region board, which is made up of the leaders of 11 councils including Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Leeds, has submitted a bid to the Department for Communities and Local Government for the city region to be awarded New Growth Points (NGP) status based on eight locations in Yorkshire.

The status has previously only been available to the South, but in July this year, following new national targets for housing, the Government agreed to extend the programme to the North.

Being awarded NGP status raises the profile of areas identified as priorities for regeneration and housing development. It enables local authorities and city regions to lever in additional private and public sector investment for transport and other infrastructure support to tackle constraints hampering their early development.

The bid includes the canal corridor which is already the subject of a £55 million project to reopen the canal between Shipley and Bradford, which is expected to bring thousands of jobs, homes and investment. The five kilometre stretch would once again connect Bradford with the national waterways network by joining with the Leeds-Liverpool canal east of Shipley. And it would end in a basin at the heart of a planned £350m waterside village near Forster Square by Bradford Channel Ltd.