Bradford firms have been urged to help shape the future of Yorkshire Forward - the Regional Development Agency - which has been set up to help them.

Graham Hall, chairman of Yorkshire Forward, is calling on companies in the district to tell the six-week-old organisation how it can best help them.

The district has 10,000 businesses -many of them in the SME - small to medium enterprise - sector and Mr Hall wants to hear from them all.

Yorkshire Forward is going through a consultation period which will lead to the production of a strategy document by October. Mr Hall said: "In this consultation period, the business input is a jewel because wealth creation is going to be a key to our future growth strategy. That is why it is crucial to get small and large business engaged in our strategy. If we can grow SMEs that will be a key cornerstone to our success."

A number of ideas have been discussed such as a venture capital fund to encourage more enterprise; skills development training; more space for business at cheaper rentals but Yorkshire Forward needs more business people to help it work out its priorities.

The organisation can also provide gap-funding investments to help companies expand their existing property or move to new purpose-built accommodation or assist with the renovation of derelict buildings such as in Little Germany.

It also has funding to bring back into use contaminated land and a Redundant Building Grant scheme to bring buildings in rural areas back to

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