New Bradford Council leader hails 'fantastic' plan for city
Reform Leader Councillor Stephen Place says more investment is needed in the areas of the District
Last updated 8th Jun 2026
THE new leader of Bradford Council has hailed “fantastic” plans for the city, including the tram link to Leeds and the Southern Gateway scheme.
But Reform Leader Councillor Stephen Place says more investment is needed in the areas of the District that voted his party in, saying those areas were “not quite sinkholes, but not doing very well.”
Cllr Place was speaking to West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Business Board, a panel made up of local authority leaders and business representatives from across the region, at a meeting on Wednesday.
Speaking to members, who include Leeds Bradford Airport CEO Vincent Hodder, Cllr Place said Bradford was “a very poor cousin” to Leeds, but that he hoped to turn things around by attracting more business to the District.
During his time addressing the board, he said he also hoped to build on the momentum created in Bradford by its year as City of Culture.
At the end of the meeting Cllr Place was asked to address the board. He said: “Without being too political, Bradford has been standing still, or treading water, for 20 years. We’re a poor second cousin to this wonderful city (the meeting was taking place in Leeds) and Huddersfield is passing us by in some ways too.”
He went on to say how important business was to Bradford, telling members: “Without business the city won’t go anywhere. We really need to increase our business community. We’re looking to make it more attractive and get people to talk to use to see what we have to offer.
“There is a massive mixture going on between the new and the old heritage and history of Bradford. The architecture in wonderful, we have a bookshop that is world renowned, Waterstones inside the old corn market.”
He said the Council was “laser focused” on attracting business to the city.
Cllr Place attended UKReiiF, a property forum held in Leeds in May that attracts tens of thousands of people each year.
This year’s event featured presentations on the West Yorkshire Mass Transit Plan, which will see trams running between Bradford and Leeds and the Southern Gateway development, that will see an area of the city regenerated to create 5,000 new homes, business and public spaces.
Cllr Place said: “What came from that was the amount of investment that is hopefully coming our way. There is a 300 acre park that is going to be developed in Bradford, with 5,000 homes, shops, the mass transit, plus the linkup with the Northern Powerhouse Rail. Fantastic.
“I got back on the train and was heading home and I thought ‘this is great for Bradford, wonderful.’
“And then I started thinking ‘hold on a minute Steve, what about the people that voted you in?’
“All around the edge of Bradford there are very large Council estates that are absolutely…not quite sinkholes, but they’re not doing very well, lets put it that way. They’ve had very little investment. Very little to look forward to for quite some time.
“That’s the next part of our plan, to engage with the communities, Town Councils, community groups, volunteer groups, and devolve some of our decision making to them. Instead of us telling them what they can have we want them to tell us what they want.
“The third part is building on the community itself, because we’re such a diverse, cultural city, building on the back of City of Culture, what can we do to keep that momentum going.
“We’re coming up on the 25th anniversary of the Bradford Riots, we never, ever want to return to those dark days.
“I did a video saying Bradford is open for business, so Bradford is open for business everyone. My door is always open.”
Chair of the Board Mandy Ridyard is from Produmax, a flight technology company that moved from Leeds to its new base at Sapper Jordan Rossi Park in Baildon in 2016.
She said: “As someone who has a business in Bradford it’s great to see how it’s developed in the last few years and how, hopefully, it will be going from strength to strength with some of the plans that you have.
“It is a fantastic place to have a business.
“The fact that you’ve been talking to your communities and getting their opinions, that’s something we’ve been doing in the business board for some time, so that’s a great direction of travel.”