A think tank set up 21 years ago to promote Saltaire village could be scrapped and replaced with a new and more inclusive initiative.

The Saltaire Project Team was created in 1992 to address local problems, and after the area was given World Heritage Site status in 2001, its role was updated.

Organised by the Shipley Area Committee, it had a “duty to deliver the Saltaire Management Plan through monitoring progress, bringing people together and organisations who implement it and considering the impact on local residents.”

But in a report to the Bradford Council’s regeneration and economy overview and scrutiny committee last year, it emerged that tourist visits to Saltaire has only risen by a maximum of three per cent since it gained World Heritage Status.

Bradford Council’s world heritage officer Craig McHugh said Saltaire was one of the first model villages of its kind, inspiring Bourneville and Port Sunlight. However, he called for a review of the existing management structure, which involves three bodies – the Saltaire Strategic Group, the Saltaire Project Team and the Saltaire Officer Group.

And Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw (Lab, Windhill and Wrose) said the first step should be to ditch the Saltaire Project Team to cut down on duplicated effort.

Now members of the Shipley Area Committee will be formally recommended to do just that when they meet next Wednesday.

Other parts of the existing management, such as the strategic group and officer group will remain essentially same.

The report, by Shipley Area Co-ordinator Damian Fisher states: “Unfortunately, the Project Team has struggled in recent years to attract key stakeholders such as major landowners, businesses and employers.

“The Saltaire World Heritage Site is recognised as a district asset and has influence that goes beyond the Shipley constituency, hence the need for a new approach.”

Area committee chairman, Councillor David Heseltine, explained the thinking behind the proposed change: “The idea is to give it all a bit more focus, impetus and really get major local players involved,” said Coun Heseltine.