A LEADING professor feels a brand-new station in Bradford would be crucial for bringing investment into the city and helping the city recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, yesterday revealed plans to build a fresh railway station on the Saint James's Wholesale Market site.

It would form part of the new rail network proposed by Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) and open in 2030, replacing Bradford Interchange.

The station, and proposed route for NPR, is dependent on the Government's approval and funding though and a final decision is yet to be made.

Professor Zahir Irani, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bradford and Chairperson for the Bradford Economic Covid-19 Recovery Board at Bradford Council was at an event alongside Councillor Hinchcliffe on Monday to unveil the plans and urge the Government to pledge its commitment to the new station.

He said: "A new train station is really important to Bradford because it's a means of bringing all sorts of investments.

"Not just in terms of financial investments, but also investments in culture, intellectual investments, because of course surrounding the location for this train station is going to be an intellectual innovation hub, that's going to bring an inflow, hopefully, of new ideas, creativity into to the city region.

"I'm really excited that that in itself is going to boost productivity, boost new ideas, boost creativity, support our young, talented and very diverse population in Bradford.

"It's going to leverage our cultural assets, in a way that I think we perhaps haven't done quite in the past.

"It's going to support our decarbonisation of our local economy, as well as supporting the green economy.

"That again is a major investment opportunity for both start-ups and supporting businesses to develop - and hopefully develop them into a growth stage where they can go onto be small, medium and large companies that will support economic recovery and boost productivity in our region and create lots of jobs and employment prospects for our young and talent population."

Major professional services firm, PwC (Pricewaterhouse Coopers), invested in Bradford two years ago when it opened new office in Godwin Street.

Professor Irani thinks the inflow and outflow of people a new station would allow, could lead to other big businesses coming to Bradford.

He said: "So companies like PWC have made an investment in the region and we want other companies to come and invest in the region.

"But we also don't want to lose people out of the region, by people moving to other big cities - either Leeds or around the country.

"I think by having a good level of connectivity, both in terms of physical connectivity and digital connectivity, we're hopefully going to be able to attract further inward investment."