Bradford City of Culture win key for regeneration says council leader

Winning the UK City of Culture is a "key pillar for regeneration" in Bradford , the council leader has said.

It was announced on Tuesday that the district will host the year-long arts festival in 2025.

Organisers of the Bradford bid claim the event could create 3,000 jobs and generate £700m of investment.

Labour council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said the area was "going to make the most of it and we're really going to shine".

"It's such a relief to win and it is huge for our hopes of investment and regeneration in the future," she said.

"[We have] always said transport, skills and culture - if you get those three things right, Bradford can really fly. This is one of those key pillars for us of regeneration and it's going to make a huge difference for us.

She added: "It's not just the year it's what comes after it as well. It's about having more confidence in ourselves as a place making sure we show our best bits to investors who might want to come here."

The city defeated competition from County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham when the decision was announced on The One Show on BBC One by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

It follows on from Derry/Londonderry and Hull as previous holders and the current City of Culture, Coventry.

Teenager Sarah, who was in City Park watching the announcement on a big screen, said she was "overwhelmed" by the win.

"It's going to make such a difference for young people in the city," she said.

The judging panel was chaired by the television producer Sir Phil Redmond, who told the BBC the Bradford bid was vibrant and exciting.

"They want to use culture to bring together a very young, very diverse population to share one common culture around the model born in Bradford, " he said.

"We thought that's where it should go."

Since winning the title, Coventry has seen more than £172m invested in music concerts and the UK's first permanent immersive digital art gallery, as well as a further £500m for the city's regeneration, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said.

Dave Downes, from the Broadway shopping centre in the city, said the event would "boost the local economy".

"It will lead to a massive increase in footfall," he said.

"More importantly once people come to Bradford and see what a great offer and what a great city it is, hopefully it will bring those people back in and they'll tell their friends."

Bradford is often said to be the UK's youngest city, with almost a quarter of the 528,000 population under the age of 16.

Alex Croft, from the Kala Sangam arts group, said it was a chance for the city's youth to get involved in cultural activities.

"Bradford is such a multi-cultural and diverse city and district," he said.

"We've got this richness of cultures and to have the support and the eyes of the world on us as we create, pull stuff together celebrate that multiculturalism.

"It's going to be a fascinating exciting journey."

Nic Greenan, the council's cultural partnerships manager, said the win was the result of two years of hard work.

She said organisers wanted to try and "recruit locally as much as we can" and would try and nurture local talent so it was "not a drag and drop festival".

"Now it's about delivery, so it's a whole new set of people, a whole new set of skills," she said.

"This has got to be an opportunity for the people who live here."

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