Firms are already lining up to move into the new £11 million Centre for Media and Creative Industries planned for Little Horton.

The new centre will be one of the flagships of the £50 million New Deal regeneration programme announced yesterday.

The idea is to renovate an old mill and let the space out to software firms, advertising agencies, public relations companies, graphic designers, fashion designers and recording studios.

The centre would be the first of its kind in Bradford and also unique in the region.

And the hope is that it will help local jobless people in the adjoining neighbourhoods of Park Lane, Marshfields and West Bowling.

Development consultant Michael Rollins of the Leeds-based Leda Group is drawing up plans on behalf of the New Deal Partnership Board.

Nationally, he said, the creative industries together employed a million people and was worth £6 billion per year.

"Regionally, the creative industries are seen as an important economic driver," he said.

The New Deal team is part of a consortium backing the plan which also includes Dixons City Technology College and Bradford Council.

"We are still looking for suitable sites in the area," Mr Rollins said.

"The New Deal zone is the ideal place to locate this. One of the important reasons for it will be to give a lot of jobs and opportunities to groups who are normally marginalised.''

The scheme was already attracting interest from companies keen to relocate to the new venture, he said.

"There are other media centres around the country but this one will be quite unique," he added.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.