City Centre Growth Zone

What is the Growth Zone?

The zone is a 170 hectare site covering the wider city centre. The zone will offer a range of incentives for businesses that are located inside it. More information on the offer to businesses can be found below. A printable map of the zone is available to download below.

Why have a Growth Zone?

The aim of the zone is to create a specific, targeted area where we can work to stimulate investment and private sector growth through a range of incentives for new or existing businesses.

The zone also provides a focus for council investment. We have already invested significant resources in improving public realm in the city centre (for example City Park and the Heritage Streets project) and will continue to do so through the Council capital programme.

What’s on offer to businesses in the zone?

The zone is made up of a number of parts, taken together these create an ‘offer’ for business that makes investing or expanding more attractive. Businesses will benefit from:

1 Super-fast broadband and city centre Wi-Fi.

Through the super-connected cities programme residents and businesses will be able to access superfast broadband (speeds up to 100mbs) along with a city centre Wi-Fi offer. The super-connected cities programme is focused on the city centres of Bradford and Leeds, the connecting corridor between the two cities and the growth areas of Shipley-Airedale in Bradford and the Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone (Aire Valley Leeds).

2 Access to employment and skills support.

The Get Bradford Working Programme has been developed to ensure local people can access jobs,and employers can get staff with the skills they need. The programme includes an intermediate job ceation fund, industrial centres of excellence and proposals for an apprenticeship training agency (ATA). This programme operates at a district level. Further information will be made available when the Get Bradford Working scheme is launched.

3 A responsive and flexible planning system.

The growth zone provides a range of development and commercial opportunities, suitable for a range of city centre uses. The Local Planning Authority are committed to ensuring these opportunities are maximised and guarantee a flexible and responsive approach to planning, including a comprehensive pre-application service and a fast track approach to processing city centre planning applications. For more information visit: - www.bradford.gov.uk/planning.

4 City Centre Business Growth Scheme.

Businesses that create new, additional jobs (see ‘Additionality’ and ‘Displacement’ in definition of terms at the end of this briefing) will be able to benefit from a business rates rebate scheme. In short, every new full time equivalent job created by an eligible business within the growth zone will be worth a rebate of up to £16,000 on their annual rates payable bill. Businesses that bring disused space back into permanent commercial use as a result of creating new jobs will also be able to access a one off rebate to cover any increased rates bills from the new space.