A former tyre depot in Bradford is being offered for sale as part of £10 million of property belonging to the former regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

The National Tyres Site, in Leeds Road, is among 15 sites owned by Yorkshire Forward which will be sold off before the agency is scrapped next year.

It was bought by the regional agency in 2006 with £450,000 of taxpayers’ money.

Ministers yesterday named the site in the first round of sales and said local authorities, including Bradford Council, could be given first option on some of the assets.

But it is more likely to be sold on the open market with the money going back to the Treasury to reduce the deficit.

Councillor Adrian Naylor, the Conservative spokesman for regeneration, said it was not a “priority regeneration site” and would probably be bought by private developers.

“This is something best left to the private sector because it has not got any strategic value in terms of regeneration,” he said.

“It depends on the price but I suspect that, if somebody came forward with a reasonable plan for someone to build much-needed housing, then a sensible deal could be struck.”

Bradford Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood said there were negotiations with the Homes and Communities Agency, the Government’s regeneration agency, about Yorkshire Forward’s other assets in Bradford.

They include the former Odeon, the site where the former Furniture City stood, land in Canal Road, the former police station at the Tyrls and the Magistrates’ Court custody suite, and the Velocity innovation centre.

Liberal Democrat leader, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, said the Council “could live with” the former National Tyres Site being sold. She said: “What concerns me is the ones that are left. Clearly, we want to see them returned back to the Council."

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