Almost £1.8 million of Bradford Council funds were released yesterday, as part of the authority’s capital programme, which will be spent on projects such as refurbishing Britannia House, buying up sites in Shipley as part of the Canal Road project and replacing the theatres’ box office ticket system.

Among the projects rubber-stamped at a meeting of the Council’s executive at City Hall, members agreed to spend: £600,000 to allow the refurbishment of the ground floor of Britannia House to accommodate the relocation of b-direct customer centre, following the expiry of the lease at Centenary Court; £450,000 on the Canal Road project to buy 13 acres of brownfield land from the Highways Agency at Crag Road, Shipley, and the buy two sites close to Shipley town centre, earmarked for larger redevelopment proposals; £274,000 to recommence the LEGI small capital grants scheme to support business investment in the district; £250,000 to replace the 12-year-old box office ticket system; £120,000 to finalise preparatory works to meet planning approval as part of the Buck Lane hi-tech business park scheme in Baildon.