The vision is economic-led. But our main approach to regenerating the economy will not be through traditional business development measures such as grants and loans. Where these are provided, they will be targeted at specific policy objectives, such as improving environmental performance.

We will use an integrated package of economic, social and environmental measures to create the right conditions for regeneration to occur. The emphasis will be on enabling: enabling new businesses to spring up without hindrance, and enabling established businesses to thrive by creating the right conditions so that they can compete effectively in world markets.



In 2020 competitive advantage will depend more on quality, innovation and added value than on low labour costs. This means that the District will stand or fall by the skills of its workforce. The foundation of these skills will be education and training.

The District will create excellence in education through a year-on-year programme of redirecting funding into schools, so that they become among the best resourced in the country. Schools will also form "Community Hubs", encouraging lifelong learning outside as well as inside the formal education system. The emphasis will be on "learning to learn" - equipping people with the broad skills they will need throughout life, and providing the potential to be trained into a world-class workforce.

The District's Colleges will increasingly specialise in training to support the new knowledge-based economy, and will play a central role in the development of its cultural industries. The University, an important economic entity in itself, will continue to specialise and develop national centres of excellence, and will be a seed-bed for the generation of new knowledge-based firms.

A wide range of other services, including health services, housing, social services and community development will also play important roles in the creation of a world-class workforce by helping to ensure that everyone is able to meet their full potential.



A world-class workforce will need to be complemented by a world-class economic infrastructure. A state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure will be particularly vital to the development of e-commerce based industries. Bradford already has a good lead in telecommunications; the challenge will be to develop this further.

With road and rail transport there is more to do. The economy of 2020 will not be based on the bulk transportation of low-value products, so the issue is not so much capacity as quality. This is particularly important to the development of Airedale, where our priority will be further improvements in rail links, the completion of the Aire Valley trunk road and the continued development of the airport for business-related services. In the City of Bradford, the priority will be to improve transport links east towards Leeds, so that the two cities can function effectively as a single economic entity.



The most vital need is to reverse the increasing polarisation between the "have-not" areas- particularly the inner city - and the wealthier outer areas.

As well as being a fundamental issue of social justice, our economic future depends on it, because polarisation is damaging the economy in two ways:

These all lead to a worsening of the quality of life in the city, and the cycle is repeated.

To reverse this process we need to make the city more attractive, so that earners, including highly paid knowledge-workers, choose to live in the city and spend in it. This will make the city more attractive to tourists and visitors, bringing in more spending power.


A wide range of policies and services will tackle these issues:

Cleansing and environmental services will ensure the inner city has a clean and healthy environment.

Housing strategy will encourage investment in the city, including the imaginative conversion of buildings.

Health and social care services working in partnership will deal with underlying problems of poor health and tackle specific problems such as drug addiction, as well as providing first class services.

Planning and transportation policies will create an attractive inner city environment.

Community safety activities will ensure that the city is safe.

Community development will help build a sense of community and pride.

Cultural strategy will encourage cultural inter-action.

Education will help create the right attitudes - from racial tolerance to pride in the local environment. The city's top quality schools will provide a strong incentive for families to stay and move into the area.

These measures to deal with geographical polarisation will be complemented by measures to promote equal opportunities and ensure no groups are excluded from the benefits of economic regeneration.