A NEW task force has been launched with the aim of helping Bradford city centre to thrive and become more vibrant and welcoming.

The Business Improvement District (BID) – the limited company funded by more than 600 levy-payers to help promote and develop the city centre – has set up the initiative to foster stronger working relationships by sharing information likely to have a significant impact on services operating in the city.

The BID’s business engagement officer, Nikki Chadburn, said: “We need more and better communication between agencies to help us work together to tackle issues and problems as they arise in the city centre.

“All of these organisations are on the same page when it comes to doing their best to make Bradford a better and more successful place and it will make it easier for everybody if we all know what’s going on and what each of the others are doing.

“It’s common sense, really, but we’re all so busy fulfilling our key roles that we don’t always have time to share what’s happening with others and we hope the task force will go some way towards rectifying that and smoothing the path for everyone.”

The organisations involved include representatives of Bradford Council’s Licensing, Highways & Planning, Operations (Cleansing), CCTV, Events and Civil Enforcement teams, along with City Centre Beat (the business crime reduction partnership), Bradford at Night (evening and night-time economy), Bradford BID, Street Angels, the Homeless Outreach Programme (HOP) and West Yorkshire Police.

The group will meet at least every quarter, aiming to:

  • Liaise with all task force group members on the issues/concerns raised regarding the cleanliness, safety, accessibility, and appearance of the city centre and create clear actions for improvements;
  • Develop, implement and monitor a strategic plan which includes City Centre Operations, Night-time Economy and Event Planning;
  • Work in partnership with all members of the Task Force Group and their teams to provide outstanding services;
  • Share partnerships with other agencies and/or businesses to ensure the correct and most appropriate actions are taken to improve services;
  • Ensure all events/maintenance plans are shared within the group so everyone is aware of up-and-coming projects that may affect workload for other services.

“Some of the key issues we discussed at our first meeting included how we can bring information together to share with all businesses operating in the city centre, particularly around policing and how businesses can help tackle crime,” said Mrs Chadburn.

“We also agreed that we need to do more to keep people informed about the Council’s Transforming Cities project. And we identified that there are quite often difficulties working out who to raise issues with and finding the right person to talk to.”

Bradford BID chairman Ian Ward added: “We’re really pleased that the task force has got off to such a positive start.

"There are clearly lots of issues to be resolved and lots of ways we can help each other but everyone is determined to pull together in the best interests of the city centre and all those who live, work, visit and spend their leisure time here.

“The task force has the potential to show Team Bradford at its best and we can’t wait to see how it develops.”