Bradford community comes together to agree vision for the District
- The Bradford District Prospectus outlines a strategic vision for the area with key ambitions to be achieved by 2040, including creating over 10,000 new jobs
- One of the ambitions includes delivering energy efficiency and heat system retrofits for 150,000 homes in Bradford
- The Prospectus was created as part of a partnership of the private, public, and voluntary sectors, led by Business in the Community, aimed at creating long-term transformational change in Bradford
Business in the Community (BITC), The Prince’s Responsible Business Network, has today published the Bradford District Prospectus, in collaboration with Bradford Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, businesses, education, and the voluntary sector, aimed at providing a strategic vision for Bradford with key objectives to be achieved by 2040. BITC has been working in communities for over forty years and as part of this work, extended its reach to Bradford in 2021.
Bradford is the fifth largest metropolitan district in the UK, home to more than half a million people. It is the UK’s youngest city, with two in 10 people aged 15 or under. Many neighbourhoods across Bradford District, including Keighley, are classified as some of the most deprived in the UK, highlighting the urgent need for action.
Statistics show that the unemployment rate in Bradford is nearly twice as high as the UK national average.[1] In addition, the number of children living in absolute low-income households is also almost twice as high in Bradford compared to the rest of the UK. [2]
This Prospectus outlines how local leaders will work together to address some of the challenges facing people living and working in Bradford District and build on BITC’s existing work in the area. The Prospectus includes the ambitions for Bradford, and key asks for business leaders, and local, regional and national government, to help Bradford achieve by 2040 objectives which include:
- Create over 10,000 new jobs in Bradford by 2040
- Deliver the first phases of West Yorkshire Mass Transit
- Achieve affordable 100% full-fibre digital connectivity districtwide by 2027
- Deliver energy efficiency and heat system retrofits for 150,000 homes in Bradford
- Improve key deprivation statistics in Keighley, including for levels of child poverty to fall below the West Yorkshire average
- Drive growth of 20% in tourism incomes as a legacy of City of Culture 2025 and increase tourism investment through a highly effective destination marketing organisation
Sir David Wootton, Chair of Bradford Place Board, said:
“Bradford is a place with wonderful people and so much potential, yet it has one of the highest levels of inequalities in the UK. This Prospectus outlines our ambitious plans for the future, aimed at making Bradford an even better place to live and work.”
Baroness Jo Valentine, Co-Place Director, Business in the Community, said:
“Supporting the people, businesses and communities in Bradford is essential to reduce the inequalities faced by people living and working in the area. Business leaders have rightly stepped up to take action, alongside the Council and community organisations as they understand they can’t have a successful business without a thriving community. I look forward to working with the rest of the Bradford community to deliver on our 2040 ambitions.”
The publication of the Bradford District Prospectus comes after senior business leaders visited Bradford District as part of The Prince’s Seeing is Believing programme last week. The visit was led by Sir Richard Lambert, Chair of Bloomsbury Publishing and Susan Allen OBE, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Building Society, with senior business leaders from companies such as LNER, Santander, Muse Places, Yorkshire Water, Burberry and Emerald Group Publishing also attending.
ENDS
Notes to editor
- Read the Bradford City Prospectus here.
- Annual Population Survey 2023
- Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2023, Department for Work and Pensions