Countryside villages and businesses could be thrown a financial lifeline if Bradford Council pursues a blueprint for the rural economy.

If the blueprint is approved, the Council is set to seek funds from Government regeneration agency Yorkshire Forward for projects to boost the rural economy and give equality to people whose needs have been "overlooked".

Today the Council's executive member for the environment, Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, said: "There is some evidence supporting the claim that not enough facilities have been put into our rural areas.

"We are talking about matters like youth services, libraries and public transport."

She said she would like to see shuttle services taking people from rural areas to railway stations. "We can't encourage people to use public transport if they cannot get to stations. There are many things which can be done."

A report into the district's race relations last year by a team headed by Lord Ouseley, former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, concluded that people outside central Bradford did not see themselves as part of the city. Coun Hawkesworth (Con, Ilkley) said the Council was now including the rural areas as part of its community cohesion plan which has received Government support. She pointed out that a rural youth team had been set up to deal with issues including drug and alcohol misuse. Other measures included the creation of a rural business forum, Coun Hawkesworth added.

She said a third of Bradford's population lived in rural areas but they had been overlooked in the past because Government agencies classed metropolitan districts as towns and cities.

Officers will tell the executive committee, in a report on the future of countryside areas, that it has the option of preparing a master plan or deciding it had already done enough.

But Coun Hawkesworth said: "I would like us to prepare a development plan to address the needs of rural Bradford."

Mark Hunnebell and his partner Joanne Everall, who have been tenants at White Wells Spa Cottage at Ilkley Moor for nearly three years, said they would welcome any investment in the rural economy.

"Anything that would improve the tourist infrastructure would be a positive step forward," said Mr Hunnebell.

But he added that, before he could fully welcome any plan, he would like to see the details. "If it put forward proposals to improve public facilities and toilets, that would be welcome," he added.