Is it too early to talk about new beginnings for the city centre?

Judging by some of the comments published on the T&A’s website, the more sceptical among Bradfordians are not about to start jumping for joy. They want to see the outcome of these schemes, what they look like, who uses them or lives in them. Outcomes rather than intentions count for more with them.

That’s an outlook that Councillor David Green, leader of Bradford Council, understands and has come to terms with himself.

He said: “One of the things I have learned, I will always question a scheme’s deliverability rather than what it looks like on paper. I would rather over-deliver and under-promise rather than under-deliver and over-promise.”

To his credit he has steadfastly maintained that Westfield would deliver the long-awaited shopping mall on Broadway.

“But I have always said that Westfield isn’t the answer: it’s a step along the way. We are trying to put something in place that will give Bradford sustainable growth for the next ten to 15 years.

“It cannot be growth simply reliant on the Council throwing money at it, or the latest fashion bubble. Remember the 1990s when call centres were all the rage?

“We have to build an economy that’s not a one-club approach. We need to be robust so that if one area takes a hit, the others can carry on. If there’s one step back we have to make sure there are two steps forward.”

Councillor Green’s City Hall office looks over City Park towards the Odeon building, with the new multi-coloured Bradford College campus rising behind it. Two symbols of the new Bradford and one symbol of the old, perhaps.

Councillor Green is hopeful that a definite decision about the future of the Odeon, now in the ownership of the local authority, will be made before the end of 2014.

Although he can’t stipulate what he wants a developer to do with the building, he said anyone with plans to demolish it would have to think again.

Nearly £4 million of public money was given by Eric Pickles’s Department of Communities and Local Government to pay for the maintenance of the Odeon and for the demolition of the former Police HQ on the Tyrls.

Once the cells underneath the HQ have been been relocated, probably nearer to the Magistrates Court, the site will be cleared and offered to developers.

The former Central Library building, most of which has been out of operation for more than a year, is being extensively improved internally at a capital cost of £9 million. The word is that within the next two years the building is likely to become offices for Councillor Ralph Berry’s children and young people’s services department.

At present the department occupies expensive offices in Future House on Bolling Road that were leased to former education managers Serco. Councillor Green would only confirm that transferring Council officers from privately-owned offices to the Central Library building would be more economical.

These and other forward-looking projects indicate that at long last, after years of false dawns, there is a marked change in the perceptions that outside investors have about Bradford. Councillor Green believes so, and he is not alone.

Val Summerscales, secretary of Bradford Chamber of Trade, which represents small businesses, also thinks there is evidence of a more positive outlook. The £35 million Growth Zone with its business rate rebate scheme has proved encouraging to small businesses, with up to 20 moving in, she said.

While some Jeremiahs fear that the presence of the Westfield mall could blight shopping on Darley Street and in the Kirkgate Centre, she thinks it could act as a catalyst.

“There will be some reasonably-sized units for other people to come into. Not everybody wants to go into large shopping centres. Variety is the thing. If Bradford becomes buoyant there’s no reason why those empty units shouldn’t be filled.

“It’s an unknown factor, yes, but the outlook isn’t as bleak as it was a year ago,” she added.