Bradford city centre is in danger of becoming a ‘ghost town’, says the owner of a long-established electrical shop.

Dr Kully Johal, managing director of SS Audio Vision in James Street, said councillors should rethink their restrictive approach to parking and pull out all the stops to encourage new shops to open in the centre.

He said the Council needed to take action to attract more businesses to Bradford centre, especially in the light of the Westfield development being postponed indefinitely.

He criticised plans to abolish free parking spaces, saying policies should be geared to boosting trade.

Dr Johal, a chartered accountant whose family has run shops in Bradford centre for more than 40 years, said the survival of the business increasingly depended on the loyalty of existing customers.

He said: “The trading climate remains very difficult with competition for shops such as ours from several quarters, including out-of-town stores and online.

“Our long-established presence in the city centre means we have built up a loyal customer base and our emphasis on personal service and value for money helps to set us apart.

“We have invested heavily in the business and leading suppliers such as Panasonic have also shown faith in our Bradford shops by investing. But life is not made any easier as fewer people come here due to the lack of decent shops.

“There has been too much emphasis on grandiose projects rather than the nitty gritty of encouraging small traders to occupy empty units to provide an attractive mix of shops.

“If things continue as they are then Bradford will become a ghost town.”

Dr Johal’s comments follow a call by Bradford Chamber of Commerce for action to landscape the Westfield site and a challenge by a leading property expert to look at alternative ways of funding the mothballed retail mall development