City of Fortune

City of Fortune

There is a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes to try and bring investment into Bradford. Bradford Council, along with many partner organisations and business groups, is fighting tooth and nail to bring new businesses into the district and to support existing ones in any way it can.

There has long been the sense that Bradford was on the edge of a resurgence, but it now seems that there is a palpable sense that it is truly underway. And that growing optimism, along with a focused regional approach to co-operative economic growth, is now being harnessed, with a number of ongoing initiatives aimed at getting businesses, both big and small, into Bradford.


That can only be helped by the ongoing turn around in Bradford city centre since the arrival of the Broadway Centre and the work to rejuvenate the nighttime economy, with developments like Sunbridge Wells and The Light Cinema. The council’s plan for a major new public space supporting the development of the markets will also help transform the Darley Street area of the city centre.


The market master plan will now include a new public space to host outdoor markets and events That confidence will be further fired up by the spark that the arrival of Channel 4 in Leeds should create for the region, and the opening of Bradford Live at the Odeon in late 2020.


With those factors in mind, Bradford Council continues to offer extensive support for small businesses, making those services more accessible than ever, and is now looking to unlock the district’s potential for larger investment with new growth zones.

“We offer an extensive range of assistance to support the growth of our existing businesses and to encourage new investment into the district “

Steve Hartley, Bradford Council Strategic director for Place

Bradford city Hall in City Park a town in west Yorkshire of England

Steve Hartley, Bradford Council’s Strategic director for Place, said:

“We are delivering the ambitions of our Economic Growth Strategy to expand our business base and create more and better paid jobs across the whole of the district.”


One strand of this is the ongoing City Centre Growth Scheme, which has supported 235 small businesses to expand or open since its launch in November 2012 and helped them to create 739 new jobs. It has assisted with 49 new business start-ups and worked to get 94 vacant premises reoccupied. Food and drink, leisure, and office uses have been particularly encouraged to support the shops. A number of restaurants and cafés, bars and music venues have benefited.

It has also supported the development of co-working and collaborative spaces to encourage new small enterprises, including Assembly Bradford, the Bread &Roses studios, Bevan Health Care and Sunbridge Wells.

Its success has led the council to widen the scheme across the district with the District Growth Scheme which, like the city scheme, provides a range of reliefs to attract new investment, encourage people to bring empty properties back into use, build new developments and re-use listed and heritage buildings in town centres across the district.

Both are run by Bradford Council’s Invest in Bradford team, which offers small businesses across the district a wide package of support, including one-to-one consultations with experienced business advisers.

Steve said: “We offer an extensive range of assistance to support the growth of our existing businesses and to encourage new investment into the district. “The package of measures we provide are responsive to business needs and have been proven to lead to increased investment, more sustainable businesses and new jobs.
“Our Invest in Bradford Team provides one-to-one support for all business development needs, including help with locating new premises for expansion or investment, as well as assistance to access funding and finance.


“This year the team will be hosting monthly business breakfasts across the district, providing updates, presentations and discussions around key themes, along with networking opportunities.”

He said four areas in the Bradford district have now been identified as Business Development Zones as part of ongoing efforts to help firms expand or redevelop and bring in larger business investment.

The four sites are Bowling Back Lane in the city, which is a road flanked with industrial units, Royd Ings in Keighley, Dalton Lane, which includes Dalton Mills in Keighley and Salts Mill Road and Dockfield Road in Shipley.


The council says creating the zones will help boost jobs and investment by helping local businesses to invest in their productivity, upgrade their premises and unlock potential capacity in the surrounding areas.

“Studies will be carried out to identify opportunities where early intervention could bring forward redevelopment or where the expansion of existing premises could be used to maximise the potential on these four sites,” Steve said.

“We will also examine the potential for general improvements to these Business Development Zones including public realm upgrades, major highway and street lighting improvements, parking provision, public transport networks, walking and cycling routes and signs.”

It is hoped the new zones will encourage landowners and developers to form partnerships to redevelop industrial sites. The council will be working closely with Bradford Chamber of Commerce on the zones.

That collaboration follows a Chamber report earlier this year which said the district’s economic growth was being held back by the lack of suitable land available for development.

Mike Cartwright, from Bradford Chamber, said: “Our members employ thousands of Bradford residents and many of the companies wish to grow and create new jobs.
“Additional industrial capacity will aid expansion, so we are delighted Bradford Council is looking at boosting both the productivity and availability of industrial land.
“This work will build on a report we produced earlier this year and we look forward to working with the council to develop innovative new approaches to boosting investment, growth and creating jobs.”

For further information regarding Bradford Council and other initiatives to help and support business growth, go to the Invest in Bradford website www. investinbradford.com