Garden of Light - something bigger or better?

The Garden of Light this week has presented a welcoming atmosphere in the city centre, with lots of people including families spending time around City Park, perhaps less so in the drizzle tonight.

As I was walking through the city tonight I considered what it could be like if the Garden of Light was extended. Here are a few ideas of how the Garden of Light could be the centre of something bigger, or indeed just some kind of city centre festival that could take place:
1) Co-ordinate with an evening or two of late opening at the Media Museum, Impressions Gallery, Peace Museum and others.
2) Introduce 'pop up' exhibitions / cafés for the duration of the garden of light in empty shops.
3) Light up large empty buildings like High Point or the former Police station.
4) Seek to have a programme of live music in a range of venues, from established live music venues, and also unusual venues like historic buildings.
5) A city centre ale trail - visit participating venues (could be about six) for a pint in the two weeks and get a free glass.
6) Well publicised special offers at the city centre restaurants over the the duration of the event.

Just a few I thought of on my short walk... any more?

We Are Leeds?

The other night I put a question to twitter:

“The 'Leeds City Region' - good for Bradford, bad for Bradford or makes no difference?”

I received responses to this question from @simonmagus (who went on to write a blog on the subject), @them_apples, @adamhepton, @bradfordodeon, @hiddenbradford, @bd_angry and @poddi.

The main points seemed to be:

• Bradford is not in Leeds
• Does the Leeds 'brand' overshadow that of the rest of Yorkshire?
• More joined up thinking
• Good if it brings more money into Bradford
• Yorkshire means something to everyone in the city region, Leeds doesn't

So, what is a city region?

A city region is a grouping of local authorities who work together to make decisions on big projects, like transport and to bring together the public and private sector to work together to deliver regeneration projects and pursue economic growth. City regions first formally appeared in Northern England as a result of John Prescott's baby 'The Northern Way'. The idea of this initiative was to seek to reduce the gap between Northern England and the south east, and for England to have successful cities outside of the capital – like Toulouse in France, Munich in Germany or Milan in Italy. The demise of regional governance brought in by the coalition government has lead to city regions getting more power in the form of the 'city deal'.

Where is Leeds City Region?

The City Region covers the local authories of West Yorkshire (Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield), as well as Selby, York, Harrogate, Craven and Barnsley. Barnsley also sits within the Sheffield city region. There is a strong view from people in Bradford that they are not Leeds. One imagines that people in somewhere like Masham (Harrogate District), Ingleton (Craven) or Walsden (Calderdale) would feel the same, or people in the ancient city of York.

Would West Yorkshire City Region be a better name?

West Yorkshire, as we've known it since 1974 includes the five districts that make up the old Metropolitan County, but doesn't include districts like Harrogate. But all the places in the Leeds City Region were historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and I'm sure the residents of all the area could identify with being in Yorkshire and not Leeds.

Is the Leeds thing just a name?

Investment in the city region will be bringing things like superfast broadband to Bradford, supporting the and a billion pounds to be spent on transport and highways across the city region area. But Leeds is getting the Trolleybus scheme and the enterprise zone in the east of the city. Leeds is of course the biggest city, with the biggest economy out of all the districts, but one could be forgiven that the Leeds name, is mainly a positive thing for Leeds but not the other nine districts.

How does the Leeds-Bradford relationship compare with those in other city regions?

Bradford – with a population of half a million is by far the biggest 'junior partner' in all of the Northern England city regions, not to mention there are five cities in the Leeds City region (Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Ripon and York). This compares to two cities in Manchester city region and two in the Tyne/Wear city region and one or none in the others. The Leeds City Region seems to be a much bigger area than the other ones, the City Region website boasts it is the second biggest city region outside of the capital. Leeds does not sit seem to sit comfortably at the centre of a city region like Sheffield or Manchester do... and I wonder how many Mackems would be happy at being part of the Newcastle city region. I think West Yorkshire is the way to go on this one!

So the answer to the question is:

The city region itself is not a bad thing, it helps bring money into the city of Bradford. It is just the name, that

a) it makes it a harder thing to sell to local businesses

b) it diminishes the pride of Bradford, as well as Wakefield and York, and;

c) Potentially helps reinforce the gap between the Leeds economy and the rest, rather than helping the rest catch up and helping the local area as a whole capture more growth.

I don't think its a parochial thing to stand up for the city the size of Bradford. I think there is a far more compelling argument for the Leeds city region to have a name reflecting a wider area, than the likes of Manchester or Liverpool. 

You're not going to like this

I was going to go into full rant mode, but basically:

Was in London for Olympics at the weekend, was brilliant

Stark contrast with Bradford, i.e. how quiet this city is and lack of investment in comparison

Still no real news on Westfield

Seen two fights in 20 hours outside my flat, as well as seeing alcoholics all over the shop

Economy is in double dip recession

Government not committing any money to anything

We know it has potential, hell, we really know this. We know that there are some reasons to be positive, it is not all negative. But there are a lot of negative things that needs addressing.

How is this going to happen?  Give me hope someone!

Get Bradford Working

The Council have announced a £7.7m scheme, 'Get Bradford Working' which according to the Council will "provide approximately 390 new jobs, 400 new apprenticeships, 300 work experience placements, 600 qualifications, 525 sustained job outcomes and 5 new studio schools with 1500 school places linked to business" .  This aims to get more workers qualified and will create around 350 intermediate jobs, which is indeed a commendable effort.  There are over 19,000 jobseekers allowance claimaints, over 4,000 of these for a year or more in the district, so whilst it is a welcome initiative, it is not a solution to the 'worklessness' affecting the district.  Furthermore, the funding runs for two years, so it is a concern how the efforts into tackling unemployment and stimulating the economy will be sustained.


To create jobs, help improve the image of the city centre (and other centres in the district) there are other approaches that could be pursued.  Some of these would of course require a whole new pot of regeneration cash, others less so and others would require the co-operation of property owners and other organisations in the city.

Over the border, Kirklees Council are offering free 'taster' market stalls and are running a competition for prospective stallholders to have a free stall for a longer period of time, at Queensgate market, above.  This would be easy for the council to implement, because the stalls are in their ownership. Another idea, perhaps requiring more cash, would be to a run a scheme with the owner of vacant retail property.  The shop owner gets a discounted fit out on their store, on condition they give discounted rent to a shopkeeper for a prolonged period of time.  This idea could indeed go beyond retail property and to many of the city's large mill buildings, such as those in Goitside below,  which could be used for creative purposes or even large buildings in the city centre such as Sunwin House and the Highpoint building.    A city centre property trust, as explored in the DIY regeneration post could be another way to get such property back into positive use.

Such schemes to bring property back into use would create opportunities for employment and enterprise.  It would help give Bradford a competitive edge to attract new business start ups and businesses relocating from other areas.  A number of non-retail uses in shops such as bars and cafés would help make the city centre a more attractive place to live and perhaps revitalise the city centre residential market.  This would hopefully improve the image of the city centre and make it a better proposition for national multiple retailers.

This may sound a bit visionary, but that's the point.  Let's get Bradford working.

The Youth Of The City

It is quite a pleasant evening out in Bradford and when that usually happens it sees City Park is full of many young people.  Lots of teenagers generally just sat around or maybe playing football, or larking about in the Mirror Pool.  There are people who are probably from most parts of the city, many different backgrounds, all wearing different clothes and a there is a whole spectrum of funky hair colours and different sub-cultures sat around.  It is a heartening sight.

The other day, George Galloway stated that by 2020 Bradford will be "the youngest city in Europe" and "what should be a blessing is going to be a time bomb".  Given the unemployment rate amongst young people in Mr Galloway's constituency and the news last week that Thomas Cook will be pulling nearly 500 jobs out of the city, it is difficult to argue against this viewpoint.  Many of the young people out enjoying themselves in City Park tonight are likely to go to University and then leave home for work because the city does not have the job opportunities.  Some young people might choose to start their own business, but what would make them want to choose to do this in Bradford than any other city.  There is a danger that the most skilled people will leave and will leave behind a population with lower employability than in other cities.

The amount of vacant space in the population, the unemployment rate, the high proportion of young people and the ability for Bradford to be able to reinvent itself differently to other large cities in the north should all align to make the centre of Bradford be a really special city in the next decade or so.  But it is very easy to find reasons to dismiss this and to write off the city.

Disillusion v Reasons To Be Cheerful

A personal blog from me, Tom:





I am trying hard to resist the top one, but I haven't been acknowledging the bottom one.

Bradfordia blog activity has dried up of late.  I think the usual issues with blogs of running out of ideas and running out of motivation have affected it.  It's not like there hasn't been anything happening in the city centre of late though, since my last blog post the Westfield site has been occupied and the Odeon saga continues to take many twists and turns.  Businesses in the city centre are still closing down, affected by the Westfield debacle and the poor trading conditions and the state of the economy that is having a negative impact nationally and internationally.

There is still lots of good things happening in the city centre, you only have to look at How Do?! Magazine or follow the 'right' people on Twitter (I should make a list) to see that.  City Park has been brilliant whilst the weather has been good, it is a massive shame that it wasn't used for the Mela (though it is easy to say that, with the benefit of hindsight) and also it is frankly baffling that the European Championships games aren't being shown on the big screen there.  Positive Bradford Day on June 22 and the Olympic Torch coming to town two days later are a great opportunity to celebrate the city centre and to get people down into town, hopefully with some sunshine.

The blog has been useful for me to get some ideas across about how the city centre could be improved, but I think I am now bereft of ideas (even though I have had some good ones, if I do say so myself).  As I've said before, the city centre needs a whole host of people to work together, but I'm not massively confident this will happen yet.   But there is still no reason why not.

So is this a final blog post for Bradfordia?  No.  If I get any great ideas or feel the need to say something about the city centre, then I will - just not had many ideas nor have I felt compelled to say anything of late.

COME ON BRADFORD!

DIY Urban Regeneration

Bradford, and particularly the city centre, is in need of regeneration.  Parts of the city have a youth unemployment rate that is more than double the national average, the city centre is near the top of the charts for vacant shop units and stalled development projects have blighted the city centre, a place which faces competition from other centres across West Yorkshire and beyond.  The textile industry in the city has left a legacy of many empty mill buildings, some of which have fallen victim to fires and some have been subject to stalled development proposals (such as Midland Mills, below).


The city is forecast to have one of the fastest rising populations in the UK over the coming years, which presents a challenge as to how all these people are housed.  Property developers are not wanting to take any risks in these turbulent times, so are opting for what seem to be 'safe bets', greenfield and low density houses with gardens and space for cars, a Castle for the Englishman - or Mondeo man.

The mechanisms for delivering regeneration have changed in recent years.  Large scale regeneration projects led by the public sector do not fit with the Government's austerity policies, changes to the availability of finance mean that large scale city centre apartment development, driven by speculators, are a thing of the past.  But the city still has empty buildings, people to house and needs to be a place where companies can start-up or want to move in to.

Community Led Development
Non for profit mutual societies can be set up to secure development.  Brixton Green has issued shares to the community to secure the redevelopment of a council owned site close to the centre of Brixton.  FC United  have issued shares to the community to build their own stadium at Newton Heath.

The Creative Foundation is Folkestone is a charity that has acquired dis-used buildings in the town, leading to the establishment of a Creative Quarter.

Closer to Bradford, the LILAC eco housing scheme in Bramley is currently under development.  This is a mutual home ownership society, where members have joined the co-operative and twenty homes are being built.  LILAC has secured investment through loanstock, where investors can lend the co-operative funds over a fixed period.  In Slaithwaite, the Green Valley Grocer (below) has thrived after the village's greengrocers was bought by the community, following a share issue and the shop provides an outlet for locally produced food, which would not have been possible without the community buying into the venture.

Bradford does have some co-operatives already, the 1 in 12 club and Brances and The Hive housing co-operatives. 

But in the meantime...

The meantime phenomenon has certainly not missed out in Bradford, as demonstrated by Fabric's Pop Up Art Space, Urban Garden and Hand Made in Bradford. The Pop Up People report looked at how vacant spaces have been used temporarily, a theme that was explored in an earlier blogpost.  With Bradford's number of empty shops, this needs to be pursued.

Bradford is yet to have its multi-million pound Westfield shopping mall, but those hipsters in Shoreditch made a whole shopping area out of shipping containers, Boxpark (above).  If shopping in shipping containers seems a bit too far fetched for Bradford, there is certainly scope for small scale intervention.  I walk through Bradford Interchange everyday, it must have one of the highest levels of footfall in the whole city, it will be the first thing that many people see in the city... but just look at it:



Get some greenery on the top of the walls, a climbing plant up those poles and add a bit of colour to those glass panel things and it would just look a whole lot less drab and just a bit more welcoming!

Can we do DIY Regeneration in Bradford?
Why not?  How much confidence is there in other forms of regeneration at the moment, in fact do these even exist any more?  Banks aren't lending money and developers aren't taking risks, but regeneration still needs to happen and someone needs to fill that gap.

Imagine if it was the people who had regenerated places like the Goitside area (below), which had a high number of residents and workers occupying the empty buildings.  Imagine if the community owned and operated the Odeon building and large vacant buildings like Highpoint and Sunwin House were handed over for a large range of retail, arts and entertainment venues - that'd be amazing!

The squeeze on local government finances and the recession require an innovative and adventurous response, particularly in Bradford where the need for regeneration is so acute.  Community led development would help improve Bradford's image, reinforce its identity and help the city centre sustain a larger residential population, which in turn would support shops and services.

So, over to us.