News that Bradford is to receive £23 million over three years from the Government's new Neighbourhood Renewal Fund should be widely welcomed in those areas of the district which most need a boost.

A key aim of the fund is to support local, grass-roots community projects, consequently creating jobs. Crime prevention, education, health, housing and the environment are also likely to benefit from this useful injection of cash into some of Bradford's most deprived areas.

It is good that local people are to be encouraged to become actively involved in measures to improve their neighbourhoods through bidding for contracts to provide services and through partnership schemes.

Perhaps the best news about the funding announcement, though, is that it could lead to money being made available to begin the renewal of Manningham Mills.

Plans for that massive monument to Bradford's industrial past have been put on hold for far too long while the developers have sought ways of bridging a £5 million gap in funding. Meanwhile, the structure of the building is being steadily weakened by the weather, leading to real fears that before long it could become beyond repair.

If a way can be found of diverting some of the £23 million into the mill, or of linking the restoration into a development programme for the Manningham community, this opportunity should be grasped.

The sight of work going ahead at last on this fine building, turning it into flats and business units, would surely be a tremendous morale booster not only for the people of Manningham but for the whole of Bradford.