The national newspaper columnist who dubbed Bradford "a vile and nasty place", today said she loved it.

The Daily Mail's star writer Lynda Lee-Potter caused outrage a month ago when she wrote that Bradford's streets were litter strewn and the buildings ugly.

The First Lady of Fleet Street added that planners had replaced impressive Victorian architecture with tacky ugliness and that the streets were among the filthiest in Britain.

But today she said she had enjoyed the "greatest day of her life" in the area after interviewing showbusiness legend Pat Kirkwood about her new book at her home in Bingley. In the book she reveals how her life was turned into a nightmare by accusations that she enjoyed a fling with Prince Philip.

Speaking outside Miss Kirkwood's home before taking a taxi into Bradford to catch a train back to London, she said: "I love Bradford but I thought the litter was horrendous. I received a mass of letters saying the same thing.

"It seems to me that in a week they could clean it up. It's a super city and I just felt very sad. People who live here say the same. I was not knocking Bradford people - I think they are fantastic. I was just really upset at the state of it. I love those Women's Institute members who posed for the calendar who said they could clean it up in a week."

And she accepted an invitation from the Telegraph & Argus to come back to the city and discover its more scenic parts.

Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood, who bitterly attacked Lee-Potter's original comments, said he was cheered by her change of heart.

He said: "It's just a pity if she has a high regard for Bradford she should have written about it in such a thoughtless and inappropriate way.

"It was inappropriate and although it seems there has been a change in her tone she behaved badly. I'm glad that she likes Bradford. She could have been balanced and she was not and did much damage to us nationally.

"In any major city there are areas where there is more litter than there should be. It comes from people who live in the district but in comparison we are no better and no worse."

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