Plans for a major Asian shopping centre on the site of Rawson Market have sparked controversy, after a leading councillor said it might be the wrong site.

Councillor Mohammed Ajeeb (Lab, University), Britain's first Asian Lord Mayor, said he believed the prime, but derelict city-centre site, might be too expensive to develop.

He told the Council's Executive Committee he believed the James Street shops on the edge of the site might also affect the whole concept if it went ahead.

But the committee agreed to market the site nationally, telling potential purchasers they wanted a major Asian shopping centre for the city. The Council could get about £6 million for the land, which could go towards other schemes.

Tory councillors also attacked the proposals and said they were based on an out-of-date report from consultants.

Coun Richard Wightman (Con, Rombalds) said the consultants had not even looked specifically at the Rawson 'bomb site'. "I don't think the city should put its confidence in the proposal as it is at present," he said.

The leader of the Council's Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Idle), asked why a large section of the community should be excluded from developing the important site. But Councillor Susanne Rooney (Lab, Eccleshill) said the Asian business community had welcomed it. "There is a particular need for this in the city centre. It is an expanding trade."

Meanwhile, plans for the formation of a private company to manage Bradford city centre will go to the new Economic Scrutiny Committee. Assistant Director of Regeneration Richard Willoughby said Bradford should follow Coventry with a private-public partnership which could bid for outside funds.

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