"Southern Gateway" plan shows how part of city might develop

Stretching the city centre south, the Gateway would be based between Manchester Road and Leeds Road, and has been touted as a major regeneration scheme for the city.

The long-planned new city centre rail station would be a centrepiece to the scheme, which would also include new health facilities, shopping areas, employment sites and thousands of new homes.

The plans got a huge boost on Tuesday when the Government announced funding to allow Bradford Council to plan for a new £2 billion station in the area – expected to be on the current site of St James’ Wholesale Market.

Detail of the gateway is included in Bradford’s draft Development Framework, which is out to public consultation until Monday.

The plans show how the potential city centre expansion might take shape – although it acknowledges the project might not be completed until 2050, and that there is currently no identified funding available beyond the recent Government station announcement.

They also show a possible route that the new rail line planned as part of the new station would take – finally creating a through rail line in the city centre.

Around 2,500 new homes are planned for the area – taking up a big chunk of the new housing planned for the city in the coming years.

The proposed Southern Gateway to Bradford (Image: Bradford Council)

One of the main features of the Southern Gateway will be the new station, which the consultation says will be a “new transport hub integrating new railway station, buses, mass-transit and other modes.”

The plans also include

• A new “healthcare hub” off Bolling Road

• An area off Hall Lane/Wakefield Road junction, currently dominated by industrial use, allocated for “community use”

• Areas along the new rail route and North of Wakefield Road and Bowling Back Lane allocated as industrial, manufacturing and distribution use

• An area between Nelson Street and Manchester Road earmarked for retail and commercial use

Several areas are planned as “mixed use” – likely to be business, office and residential.

These include the open air car park on George Street, a site of Filey Street, and sites of Hammerton Street and Leeds Road.

Sites throughout the Southern Gateway would be allocated for housing – which the consultation says will be a mix of refurbished properties, such as mills and warehouses, and new builds.

They include

• An area between Upper Castle Street and Spring Mill Street, just north of Ripley Street

• Industrial areas South of Bronte Girls Academy

• Industrial land off Ripley Road

And a number of “green corridors” are planned to link the different parts of the gateway area, and to link to other parts of the city.

The consultation says the Southern Gateway will create “a thriving economy at the heart of a district-wide innovation ecosystem.”

It adds: “By 2050, the Southern Gateway will exemplify sustainable regeneration, delivering a thriving economy at the heart of a district-wide innovation ecosystem. “It will be a diverse integration of business and commerce, jobs for a highly skilled labour force, a place for the rapid growth of knowledge-intensive industries and their supply chains, and education and research facilities.

“This will be a beautiful place to live.

“The built environment for 2,500 new homes will be structured around retaining existing valued heritage assets within a sustainable bio-diverse urban landscape.”

But highlighting the fact that the changes are long term plans – any new station is likely to take around 10 years to complete, the consultation says: “The proposed interventions as set out are indicative only.

“There is no funding commitment at this stage to deliver the vision. If the proposals are supported by stakeholders, a more detailed delivery plan would be considered as funding opportunities arise.”

The Southern Gateway is one of several areas included in the Development Framework for Bradford.

There are also development frameworks for Shipley, Keighley and Bingley out to consultation.

This is the second round of consultation on these development Frameworks. The first round saw responses from over 1,200 people.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: “These Development Framework are illustrative, visionary presentations of what a place could look like in the future. They identify and bring together specific opportunities for development and showcase how they might look, alongside what would be required to make that development happen.”

To have your say visit https://letstalk.bradford.gov.uk/