Stunning plans for a visionary £350 million canalside village in the city centre were unveiled today.

The massive scheme includes more than 2,600 homes on a site the size of eight football pitches.

There are proposals for family homes, apartments, a hotel, shops and offices beside a new canal basin - built by extending the Leeds Liverpool canal into the city centre.

Work would take ten years to complete and could start within a year if council planners approve the proposal - amassive step towards bringing to life the masterplan designed for Bradford by top architect Will Alsop.

And a company from the district - Magellan, based in Shipley - is leading the development. It fronts a new company called Bradford Channel Ltd, set up to deliver the scheme, which would be privately funded.

Derelict land and warehouses would be cleared to build a canalside community set in parkland, which could also host a wide range of activities. The developers say they have begun talking to landowners and occupants of the earmarked area about relocation - some of it within the site.

An outline planning application for the development of the whole site is due to be submitted to Bradford Council soon. But developers say a detailed application will be submitted for phase one at the same time and approval could mean an early start date.

The first 1,000 homes in the initial phase would take up to four years to complete and developers say the whole project will create hundreds of jobs.

The development, with its state-of-theart landmark buildings, would be at the end of an extension of the Leeds Liverpool canal.

Top architects have drawn up plans with flagship buildings on the 5.35 hectare site bordered by Valley Road, Hamme Strasse and Holdsworth Street, minutes from Forster Square station.

Robinson Architects, also from Shipley, has created the design. The firm said it will add to the city's stock of great buildings and provide a stunning entrance to the city.

Magellan Properties chairman Harold Robinson said: "I grew up in Bradford and watched the redevelopment of the Forster Square area in the late 1950s and early 60s.

"Since then, all we have heard from the people of Bradford is how awful and inappropriate the buildings are. It has long been my ambition to see something done about it.

"It was Magellan that initiated the Broadway development and now we have a chance to take that ambition further via The Channel on land opposite Forster Square retail park.

"We want to produce something we can be proud of - something that sparks the city's regeneration and something children growing up today will remember in a positive way when they are my age."

Magellan started when Jack Robinson opened an architect's practice from his home in Thornton just after World War Two. He was followed by his son, Harold. Now three of Harold's children work for the company, with James as chairman, John as director and Catherine as marketing manager.

The company is responsible for the award-winning restoration of the Grade Two listed Wells House in Ilkley and the former Parc Mont Hotel in Leeds. It has also built housing developments worth millions of pounds across Yorkshire.

Maud Marshall, chief executive of Bradford Centre Regeneration, said: "We are very pleased such an ambitious plan has been proposed for the Channel neighbourhood. This is one of a number of exciting schemes set to change the face of the city, providing new facilities for residents and businesses and encouraging others to relocate here.

This is the masterplan in action."

Bradford Council leader Councillor Margaret Eaton said: "The plans for the Channel demonstrate the confidence that major developers now have in the city and its potential for the future."

The scheme is part of The Channel - one of four city centre neighbourhoods in the BCR-commissioned masterplan created by architect Will Alsop.

He describes The Channel as a "place for socialising, shopping and living."

Bradford's other masterplan 'neighbourhoods' The Bowl - the pivotal point of the plan. It envisages a lake around City Hall and a pier which could become a natural extension of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television.

The Market - including, Kirkgate, Westgate, the Oastler shopping centre and Rawson Quarter. The Alsop vision sees a garden of tranquillity in the area of the Drewton Street mosque, homes, and a speakers corner; The Valley - breathes new life into the Thornton Road corridor, acting as a catalyst for the refurbishment of heritage warehouses. Alsop envisaged a wetland learning centre and the Bradford Beck and Brook brought to the surface.

Consultants are drawing up more detailed frameworks for the neighbourhoods and a city centre design guide is about to be published.