A SCHEME to develop a new “enterprise zone” in Bradford will get an extra £1.29 million.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority had already approved £6.9m funding to help prepare a vacant site on Parry Lane, off Sticker Lane to become a new employment site, which could attract hundreds of jobs to the area.

The overall cost of the scheme will be £19m.

But after early works to the site it emerged that the long empty plot is blighted by mine shafts and coal seams - meaning the works will cost more than expected.

At a meeting of the Combined Authority’s Investment Committee yesterday members agreed to provide the extra £1.29m funding to tackle these newly discovered issues.

The money will be diverted from another enterprise zone scheme at Langthwaite in Wakefield.

The work to prepare the site will include new access roads, pedestrian crossings and preparations for future businesses to safely build on the derelict land.

The enterprise zone scheme involves sites across West Yorkshire that have been deemed "unviable" to develop in the past.

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The Combined Authority provides funding to allow new businesses to set up on the site without the huge costs of site preparation.

Work at Parry Lane is expected to be completed in 2025.

Just over £5m of this funding would come from the Government’s Getting Building Fund - a pot of cash awarded last year to bring forward “shovel ready” regeneration schemes across the country.

At the meeting Sara Brook, project manager, said: "These sites are unviable to bring forward without public sector intervention. The project will remediate a brownfield site.

"There is a shortage of modern commercial floor space in Bradford."

At the meeting Councillor Alex Ross Shaw, Bradford Council Executive for regeneration, planing and transport, said: “We know there is need for employment space across the region.

"Any business in Bradford that wants to expand will tell you that finding suitable space is a challenge. That is why we are bringing sites like this into worthwhile use.”

Leeds Councillor Kim Groves asked if it was possible for any park and ride facility to be provided for the hundreds of future employees.

She was told that there was not enough space on the site to provide such a facility.

But Mrs Brook said: "It is close to Sticker Lane which has good public transport links. There will be a push for future occupiers to get their future employees to use public transport."