The sharing-out of the regeneration money which Bradford hopes to win from the Government for the Barkerend area is presenting the Council with something of a dilemma. When members of the Executive meet tomorrow they will have to carefully weigh the potential advantages of investing in the city centre with the needs of the inner-city residents.

Bradford North Area Panel, which covers the area concerned, last week passed a resolution that the city centre should be excluded from a bid taking in Barkerend, Bradford Moor and Leeds Road. Its view was that families were "living like animals" in bad conditions and needed every penny they could get.

Certainly many homes and streets in the area are in urgent need of improvement. And there is no disputing that the environment badly requires cleaning up - although as several readers have been quick to point out, much of the blame for the rubbish must lie with the some of the residents themselves, who either create it or fail to clear it away.

But without doubt the people of that district deserve better than they have at present. Hopefully, a successful regeneration scheme involving the residents will bring with it a sense of community pride.

However, the area needs jobs too. Investment of part of the grant in Little Germany and the city centre could help to bring employment to Bradford and generate wealth from which the people of Barkerend and neighbouring areas can benefit.

The Executive tomorrow should not be deciding whether it favours one over the other but how much of the likely grant it will be allocating to each.

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