Bradford Council is in a race against time to claim a vital £6 million grant from Europe for a road scheme which would transform the city.

The £20.6 million Connecting the City scheme is tied to the vast Broadway shopping development as it requires two huge office blocks to be demolished.

But European funding rules mean the grant will be lost unless the work starts by July.

The road scheme is key to the redevelopment of Little Germany and integrating it into the city centre. It would also improve links between Market Street and Darley Street.

Today the Council's executive member for regeneration Councillor Simon Cooke said work needed to begin on the shopping scheme to allow the road project to start in time to claim the European funding.

The £200 million retail development has suffered a financial blow because Government regeneration agency Yorkshire Forward refused to fill a gap in funding.

But the Telegraph & Argus can also exclusively reveal today that development giant Stannifer - which has been behind major shopping schemes across Britain - is involved in secret negotiations with Broadway developers, the Forster Square Development Partnership.

The Stratford upon Avon-based company has an impressive track record of working in partnership to bring multi-million pound projects to fruition.

It has just started work on the Union Square retail complex in Aberdeen - the biggest scheme of its type in Scotland.

Today a Stannifer spokesman told the T&A: "We can confirm that we are the company in negotiations with the developers but we cannot comment on talks."

A revised planning application for the Broadway scheme which makes amendments to cut costs while not compromising on quality will soon be submitted by the Forster Square Development Partnership for consideration by Bradford Council.

Compulsory purchase orders have been placed on more than 80 buildings which will be demolished to make way for the scheme but in the mean time Broadway is fast becoming a ghost shopping precinct as retailers move out.

But no start date has yet been given for the work which was originally scheduled to begin last month.

The Connecting the City scheme requires the demolition of the Forster and Midland House office blocks in order for work to begin. The Council also needs to re-negotiate a development agreement with the partnership because of the new road scheme and proposed amendments to the scheme.

Coun Cooke said: "Once there is an agreement by the developers Connecting the City could get off the ground. All parties are aware of the situation."

Alan Mainwaring, the Council's director of transportation, design and planning, said the work would need to start by July to claim the European funding.

A spokesman for the Government office for Yorkshire and Humberside said: "There is a tight deadline to deliver this project in 2003. However, the European secretariat is working closely with Bradford Council to find ways of addressing the conditions of the European requirement."

Other provisional funding has been agreed from the sources including the Regen 200 regeneration scheme and local transport plan.