Westfield revises Broadway plan

Westfield is planning to restart its stalled Broadway shopping centre in the first half of next year. The Australian company has revealed the development will be built in two phases to allow the retail side to come to fruition first.

Westfield is submitting revised plans that will lightly reduce the 588,000 sq ft of retail space. The new plans will still provide more than half a million sq ft and be anchored by two large department stores as originally envisaged. A public consultation is scheduled to take place at the Midland Hotel on July 1 and 2, with the new plans being submitted in late July.

If a leasing campaign proves successful, Westfield hopes to be on the Broadway site next year. The footprint of the new scheme will extend over the same expanse of land as the original, but the height of the centre will be reduced in places, with some double-level stores remaining.

By building in two phases the progress of the retail side would no longer depend on the success of the office and residential components. Westfield are currently revamping their website for the Broadway site.

















An artist's impression of the new look Westfield site.

Anger over Whetley Hill Resource Centre closure

Disabled users of a centre they calla a "lifeline" are campaigning to try and save it from closure. Bradford Council needs to make budget cuts of more than £9 million for 2011/12 from their Adult Services Department. Unfortunately one of the ways in which the Council propose doing this is closing a much needed centre in Manningham.

The centre has been providing service for 35 years and there is no alternative provision of its kind in Bradford. Instead the Council is foolishly proposing a "more personalised" service to the 98 registered users of the facility.

Worryingly no one on the Council seems to be opposing it's closure and are welcoming the personalised service as a better service. Users are concerned they will lose the "companionship" the centre offers them.

The coordinator of the Bradford physical disability forum Able All, said: “It’s an absolutely fantastic facility. I had Guillain-Barre syndrome 27 years ago and I wish I had somewhere like this to go to then.

“A lot of disabled people will say they feel secure at home but they also feel more isolated and that’s what a ‘more personalised’ service might mean.”

Bradford bids for Enterprise Zone

All the major parties in Bradford have given support behind a bid to make Bradford's city centre an Enterprise zone. A district with a designated Enterprise Zone will be able to offer companies within it business rate discounts, superfast broadband and fast-track planning.

More than 5,000 jobs could be created if the Bradford scheme is given approval by the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership. It will not be plain sailing though, as there are rival bids by Leeds City Council, Wakefield Council and Selby District Council.

The Leeds City Region LEP Board, which includes Bradford Council leader Ian Greenwood, will make a decision on June 15.

"Enterprise Zones

Enterprise Zones will have potential to create new businesses and jobs with wider economic benefits. Each zone will benefit from:

* tax breaks for businesses – including a business rate discount worth up to £275,000 per eligible business over a five year period
* simplified planning rules
* the roll out of super-fast broadband

Areas to benefit

The focus of the first wave of enterprise zones is on cities and areas with untapped potential. The four confirmed enterprise zone sites are:

* Nottingham – the Boots campus
* Liverpool – Liverpool and Wirral Waters
* Manchester – Airport City
* London – Royal Docks

Seven local enterprise partnerships which will have an enterprise zone in their area were also named in the Budget. These partnerships are:

* Birmingham and Solihull
* Sheffield City Region
* Leeds City Region
* Western England
* the Black Country
* Tees Valley
* North Eastern"

(Information about Enterprise zones taken from the www.direct.gov.uk website)

City centre pub set to re-open

Up to 20 jobs will be created at a new venture by Bradford publican Martin Hubbard. He is investing £250,000 in refurbishing the Lord Clarke in Market Street, opposite Centenary Square, which closed in 2010, after the previous tenant failed to make a go of it.

Mr Hubbard, who operates two other Bradford pubs and a bar, will re-open it as The Ginger Goose, focusing on real ale and carvery meals.

He said: “We hope to be up and running in about six weeks but there’s a lot of work to do. We’re re-naming it The Ginger Goose as the place is best remembered as The Goose – but that’s a registered brand name, so we can’t use it.

“We’re trying to do our bit for Bradford by bringing back to life a prominent venue.”

Possible job boost for Bradford City Centre

Provident Financial are due to open a new call centre at their Thornton Road headquarters. The call centre for Provident's expanding Vanquis Bank credit card subsidiary is likely to open before the end of this year.

The news follows the announcement of proposals by the Italian Furniture Company to employ around 200 people at the former Shires Bathrooms site in Lidget Green, Bradford.

Provident chief executive Peter Crook said choosing Bradford for a second call centre was “a no brainer” as the city had an exceptional talent pool.

190 jobs planned for former bath factory in Lidget Green

Halifax-based Italian Furniture Company is planning to create nearly 200 jobs at the site of the former Shires factory in Lidget Green, Bradford. 60 workers were made redundant when Shires closed in April, 2009.

If plans are approved the building would also house Tradex, a company dealing with clothes and footwear, and Slumbernights bed manufacturers. The three companies have the same director, who would like to see the companies operating under one roof.

The majority of the new workers would be recruited from the Great Horton area. The application to the Council reads: “With regard to loss of employment land this site has employed nobody for two years and the scheme will create about 190 jobs on the site.

“Sixty will be in manufacturing, 40 in the warehousing and distribution and 100 in retail employed in three shifts.

“More people will be employed in the retail use and in a much smaller floor area than in the other two uses.”

A birds eye view over the currently unoccupied factory in Lidget Green, Bradford.

Bradford: The UK's best Broadband City

Although UK broadband speeds continue to lag behind the best in the world with an average broadband connection speed of 4.3Mbps which places it 26th globally - things are steadily improving.

The average UK connection speed has risen by 16.2 per cent compared to a year ago when it stood at 3.7Mbps. It's also a 6.3 per cent improvement on the final quarter of 2010 and is well above the global average of 1.9Mbps. The figures come from Akamai's "The State of the Internet" report covering the fourth quarter of 2010. The web infrastructure provider gathers the data from its global webserver network.

Akamai has also ranked the top 100 cities in the world for average broadband speeds and only one UK city – Bradford – makes the list with average connection speed of 6.1 Mbps, which places the West Yorkshire city in 99th place.