Shopping giant Asda plans to build a £15 million store in Bradford, bringing 170 new jobs to the district.

The company won its bid to build the store in Rooley Lane following a major protest from residents last year.

The new superstore will mean the closure of its Knowles Lane shop, used by thousands of people from Holme Wood estate.

But Asda today pledged to provide a bus link between Holme Wood and the new store seven days a week for five years.

Families last year collected hundreds of signatures on a petition and staged a demonstration with placards at the Knowles Lane store in a bid to stop its relocation.

They said it would be impossible for them to reach the new superstore a third of a mile away because few of them had cars.

But the Secretary of State for Transport and Environment in the Regions, John Prescott, ruled in favour of the new shop at a public inquiry.

The company said at the height of the protest that it would provide buses for the Holme Wood shoppers to the new building, however.

Asda said today it hoped to transfer to the Rooley Lane shop in November, as part of its plan to open 12 new stores across the country this year and recruit up to 6,000 people.

The Reverend Alan Evans, minister of the estate's Holme United Reformed Church, who was heavily involved in the campaign to stop the closure, said they were disappointed.

But ward councillor John Ruding (Lab, Tong) welcomed the jobs in the unemployment blackspot.

He said: "I recognised when the proposals were made that they would disadvantage a great many people, particularly single parents.

"I welcome the jobs, particularly because of the high level of unemployment, which is particularly bad among young people. In some cases it is as high as 28 per cent."

The shopping chain says it wants to recruit 27,0000 people over the next five years and 6,000 in the coming year.

Up to 1,500 new jobs will be created immediately as Asda turns temporary Christmas roles into permanent positions.

Most of the new jobs will be created by Asda's new store opening and renewal programme.

Expansion of the distribution network and home shopping business will create 1,200 of the new jobs.

The news comes as Asda celebrates the recruitment of its 100,000th employee, Jackie Craven, a checkout operator at its Killingbeck store in West Yorkshire.

Alan Leighton, Asda's chief executive, said: "These expansion plans are in line with our strategy of long-term market-share growth."

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