The conclusion reached by a feasibility study that the plan to restore the canal link between Shipley and the proposed new waterside village near Forster Square would be viable is excellent news for Bradford. Let's hope that nothing gets in the way of the Council's executive committee authorising the project to continue when it meets next week to consider this imaginative vision.

The loss of the canal in its historic form was unfortunate but inevitable, given the conditions at the time. It became hopelessly polluted after being topped up with water from a Bradford Beck which was heavily contaminated with industrial waste. As a public-health danger, the canal had to go.

One of the few positive benefits of the decline of traditional industries in Bradford is that that source of pollution has now virtually disappeared. There is no reason why the water in a recreated canal could not be of as good a quality as that which fills the Leeds-Liverpool Canal to which it would be joined.

The rebirth of the Bradford canal, providing a waterway virtually to the heart of the city, would be a tremendous spur to the regeneration of the area at the end of Canal Road which has been set aside for the waterside village. It would also attract investment all along its length, revitalising derelict buildings like the Conditioning House and encouraging new residential and commercial development along the valley bottom.

As Councillor Simon Cooke says, it is one of the most exciting proposals Bradford has been involved in for a long time. It is an opportunity that must not be lost.