Bradford’s regeneration hopes have been dealt a major blow after a £35 million bid to create offices and shopping space in the city centre was rejected by the Government.

The money was designed to start the £58 million Exchange Court scheme, to move the magistrates’ court from the Tyrls to next to the Great Victoria Hotel.

It was also to be used to lever private investment into the new ‘business forest’ planned on the edge of the City Park, due to be completed later this year.

But the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, of which Bradford Council leader Ian Greenwood is a board member, has been unsuccessful in its bid for a slice of £450 million in Government funding, it was announced yesterday.

Councillor Greenwood described the latest knock-back as “disappointing” but said the regeneration of the city centre remained crucial in driving the long-term economic success of the district.

He said: “We are now going to look at all the options, whether that is to put a bid in for next year’s round of funding, look at whether this is something we can do out of our own resources – although that will be very difficult at the moment – or find others in the private sector to help us.”

Coun Greenwood said the planned relocation of the courts, which have become “unfit for purpose”, was still expected to go ahead and a spokesman for Her Majesty’s Court Service said it would work with the Council to identify alternative funding.

However, Coun Greenwood added: “We are not going to pretend that some made-to-measure alternative exists. We need to be thoughtful, mature and innovative in what we do next.”

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, leader of the Council’s Conservative group, said councillors had been led to believe the Liberal Democrats group had been lobbying Business Secretary Vince Cable and that “a positive outcome was likely”.

She said: “I suspect that the Council raised its hopes with this bid, when the prospects of a positive outcome were less than some members had us believe.

“Exchange Court is intended to attract jobs, but there are no cast iron figures to compete with those of many of the schemes that were successful.”

Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Council’s Liberal Democrats Group, said said she and Bradford East MP David Ward had spent a “considerable amount of time” lobbying the Government on behalf of Bradford. But she said any direct talks with Mr Cable would have been “inappropriate” as he had been among ministers deciding on the bids.

The bid was backed by the new Bradford City Centre Development Group, which is chaired by Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips and includes Iain Cornish, chief executive of Yorkshire Building Society, Provident Financial boss Peter Crook, and Neil Gaydon at Pace, as well as Council representatives.

Mr Cornish said: “This is a missed opportunity for the city of Bradford and I know that many business leaders, local politicians, local residents and those who have worked so hard to bring it to fruition will be left extremely disappointed by this announcement.

“Bradford has a huge amount to offer and following the decision we need to look at alternative options that will act as a boost to economic growth within the city and encourage investors to bring forward funding.”

The 50 successful bids were announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg as part of the Government’s plans to invest in businesses across England aimed at creating or safeguarding 100,000 jobs.

However, shadow business secretary John Denham claimed that 464 projects, valued at a total of £2.78 billion, had been chasing a slice of only £450 million.

Harold Robinson, president of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, said: “With the total value from all the bids outweighing what was on offer, it was always going to involve some difficult decisions from the panel.”

  • Read the full story in Wednesday's T&A