Bradford 'City Village' development including 1,000 new homes approved
It'll go on the site of the former Oastler and Kirkgate centres, as well as several city centre car parks
THE new City Village development of around 1,000 homes has been approved, with Councillors saying it will help revive the city’s nighttime economy and “liven up” the centre.
After the approval on Thursday afternoon, work can begin to demolish the now vacant Oastler Centre and the Kirkgate Shopping Centre and build houses, apartments, parks and greenspaces and shops in their place.
When complete, up to 2,500 people will live in the City Village development, and there will be around 300 jobs created in the ground floor units of the new buildings – which could be used as shops or office space.
Members of Bradford Council’s Regulatory and Appeals Committee were also told that around 500 construction jobs will be created during the course of the development.
Homes in the first wave of the scheme will be available next year.
City Village is being delivered by Bradford Council and ECF (the partnership between Homes England, L&G and Muse).
On Thursday members of the Committee were asked to approve a full application for Phase 1 of the City Village.
This includes 33 townhouses on Chain Street, centred around a new community green. They will be built on existing Council owned car parks.
64 two and three-bedroom townhouses on the northern Oastler site, arranged around a series of courtyards and green spaces, each with designated parking space.
Supporting infrastructure including roads, landscaped public spaces and walking and cycling routes.
The plan also included outline permission for apartment buildings on the Oastler Market and Kirkgate Shopping Centre sites, as well as the development of a new green space that will be known as Darley Park opposite Darley Street Market.
A more detailed application for these apartment buildings will follow at a later stage.
Bradford Council bosses have said the City Village scheme would re-shape a part of the city centre that has seen shops and businesses re-locate to the Broadway Centre.
As well as reducing the number of empty shops in that part of the city, it would boost the remaining shops, pubs and cafes by introducing thousands of new customers on their doorstep.
At the meeting Michael Slater, Planning Officer for Major Developments, said: “This will create a substantial new residential community, and bring vitality and a new local population to support city centre shops.
Chris Jones, part of the team behind the plans, said: “It will help increase the vibrancy of the city centre. The development will be home to between 2,000 and 2,500 people. Work will begin this year and the first new houses will be available next year.
“The loss of underused retail buildings will mitigate some of the issues in the Top of Town area, and the new residents will bring a pride in their new neighbourhood that will help reduce anti-social behaviour.”
He said the development would reduce the pressure to build houses in “less sustainable” area – including on the Green Belt.
Asked how many of the homes will be classed as affordable, James Dinsley said the 97 homes in the first phase would be affordable, but the rest of the development would include a mix of tenures.
He said too many rental or social homes would mean a more “transient” population, but a mix would mean more people were invested in the idea of city centre living. He said: “We want people living in City Village for a long period of time.”
Councillor Rizwana Jamil (Lab, Bowling and Barkerend) pointed out there was limited parking in the development, and the City Village was removing a number of car parks.
She said: “My concern is this will put pressure on parking areas outside the development.”
Highways officer John Rowley said: “This site is walking distance from two train stations and bus routes, we want people to move to more sustainable modes of transport. It will be a choice people make when they decide to live in this area.
“There are still car parks in the city centre.”
Councillor Taj Salam (Bradford Independent, Little Horton) said: “This is a really good scheme. If people want a property they can park outside the front door there are lots of other places in Bradford they can buy a house.
“This is good for Bradford. You hear people talking about it being a ghost town – the Top of Town sometimes feels like that. This will liven it up.
“Green spaces are really needed in the city centre. This will help put Bradford on the map.”
Councillor Ian Parsons (Lab, Eccleshill) said: “This will help revive the nighttime economy. It will help encourage people not to rely on car transport.
“The whole thing is brilliant. There is Bradford Live, the Alhambra, St George’s Hall, restaurants, Darley Street Market, all a reasonable distance from these homes.”
Members unanimously voted to approve the scheme.
After the meeting Si Cunningham, Chair of Bradford Civic Society, said: “Approval of this planning application is a welcome leap forwards for Bradford City Centre – transforming redundant shops and unloved buildings into a proper new neighbourhood.
“Some details of later phases of the scheme – particularly what replaces the Kirkgate Centre – are still to be scrutinised, and it’s important that this section is of the highest possible design standard.
“But for now this is a great milestone for Bradford’s regeneration, and I hope that we now see demolition and construction underway as a soon as possible. Cranes in the sky can only be a good sign for the city.”