One of the greatest criticisms levelled at Bradford for years has been that it lacks direction and vision. It is very difficult for the people who live here, let alone the business investors we need to attract from outside, to get a handle on just where it is that we want to go.

The situation has undoubtedly been damaged by political instability in the Council, which has an alarming propensity for changing leadership at almost annual intervals. One inevitable result of this is that few projects get a chance to get off the ground.

The city needs a new dynamism and a new vision. The Bradford & District Futures report, jointly commissioned by the local authority and the Training & Enterprise Council, is the nearest thing we have yet seen to an outline of the future role of the city.

It is full of commendable aims, e.g. providing training and opportunities for that Holy Grail of full employment. But, more important, it sets out to define an identity for the city as a centre of excellence for the development of new technology on the back of the success of companies like Pace and Filtronic.

If it is to work, however, the whole city needs to be swung behind that vision. That common goal must be built into all Bradford's strategies for the future and embraced by every section of the population.

There is some danger in putting all the eggs in one basket, admittedly. But at least for once we will know what the basket is meant to contain.

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