PLANS for one of the biggest employment schemes in Bradford have officially been revealed.

The Parry Lane Enterprise Zone is a £19 MILLION scheme to create a major new employment site in the Bowling Back Lane area of the city.

If approved, the development could bring almost 500 jobs to the area.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority is providing £8 million of the funding for the site, which will include the work to make the long empty site suitable for development.

The rest will come from the private sector.

Industrial plans would create new jobs

Funding for the scheme was approved earlier this year, and now a planning application for the site has been submitted to Bradford Council.

The application is for 25,000 square metres of business and industrial land - with 10 buildings of varying sizes built over the site.

It also includes a much smaller unit that will be marketed as a cafe or take away.

And there will be parking for 261 cars and 35 light goods vehicles.

The main access to the site will be from Parry Lane and Sticker Lane, and the scheme includes a major remodelling of the junction at Parry Lane/Lower Lane.

The application says the units on the site will range from 200 square metres to 3,400 square metres.

It adds: “Parry Lane has been identified as a site where the public sector can lead on the provision of modern, high quality, employment development in a sustainable location.

“In addition to the proposed business uses, we believe there is demand for a food and drink provision to serve the proposed business park and the wider area. The exact type of use will depend on finding an operator, but some kind of drive through coffee facility offering hot and cold food is envisaged.

“It is considered the redevelopment of the site will contribute to the economic, social, and environmental aspects of the sustainable development and responds to the relevant policies of the Bradford local plan.”

The application refers to Bradford Council’s Core Strategy, which says at least 1,600 jobs should be created in the District each year until 2030.

The Parry Lane site has been empty since 2008 when Yorkshire Energy vacated the land. In recent years was identified by the Combined Authority and Bradford Council as one of three sites in the city where a new enterprise zone could be built.

Work started on another of these enterprise zones, at Gain Lane, late last year.

£10M BOOST: Work to begin on new Gain Lane 'enterprise zone' expected to bring 550 jobs to Bradford

The third is due to be built at Staithgate Lane - although that project is in its early stages.

A decision on the Parry Lane planning application is expected in late June.