There are high hopes that Bradford’s regeneration could be boosted by the Government’s plan to bring forward £10 billion of spending on public works.

The investment, announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is designed to help the UK through a difficult economic period by creating 100,000 jobs.

Today, regeneration chiefs said Bradford city centre was in the perfect position to benefit from the move to accelerate existing spending plans.

The six catalytic regeneration schemes in Bradford, including Park at the Heart and the relocation of the Magistrates’ Court, are already being considered for funding by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

But Councillor Adrian Naylor, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration, said extra money from the Government could be a further boost to the city’s regeneration. He said: “We have projects that are more than ready to stand on their own and all they are really waiting for is for funding to be brought forward.

“Bradford is batting way ahead of the rest of the pack in that that we have projects on the table and are pushing them forward.

“Even before this announcement from Gordon Brown, Bradford had six catalytic projects already under consideration by Yorkshire Forward.

“Some are going to be ready sooner, like Park at the Heart.”

Yorkshire Forward will hold a board meeting on January 28 and 29 to formalise its Geographic Spending Programme for the Yorkshire region.

The picture regarding the funding and timescale for Bradford’s major regeneration projects is expected to be much clearer after that meeting.

Coun Naylor said: “We are hoping for something reasonable to come out of that board meeting in terms of being able to say we can go out and start X and Z.”

In relation to the Government’s investment in public works, Coun Naylor said: “Now it has been announced, we would like to see the delivery of funds sooner rather than later. No-one has been told how to apply for it, but the fact that we are going through Yorkshire Forward means we are on our way.”

Coun Naylor said it had proved difficult to access funding from previous Government schemes.

He said: “Back in September, Gordon Brown met the EU heads of state, then announced a £12 billion fund to help small businesses deal with the financial situation.

“We still haven’t seen a mechanism for that. There’s a lot of rhetoric but no delivery.”