Bbc News: Bradford’s City Village Phase One Given Planning Approval in City Centre Transformation
The first phase of Bradford City Village has been granted planning approval, news coverage shows, marking a concrete step in a wider city centre regeneration that will deliver around 1, 000 homes across three core sites. Local leaders describe the decision as a milestone for the city’s ten-year growth ambitions.
News: What Phase One Delivers
Phase One will deliver 33 townhouses on Chain Street organised around a new community green. The homes are described as two- and three-bedroom properties designed to meet a range of household needs, each with a designated parking space. The plans also emphasise modern, energy-efficient construction alongside new public realm and landscaping.
Scope of the wider City Village project
The City Village neighbourhood is planned across three main locations in the city centre: the demolished former Kirkgate Shopping Centre site, the former Oastler market site, and car parks on Chain Street. Taken together, the proposals envisage up to around 1, 000 homes delivered in multiple phases, along with enhanced public spaces and infrastructure improvements.
- Phase One: 33 townhouses on Chain Street, centred on a new community green, each with designated parking.
- Northern Oastler site: proposals include a further 64 two- and three-bedroom townhouses arranged around courtyards and green spaces, each with designated parking.
- Wider outline plans: more than 300 apartments on the southern half of the Oastler site and approximately 400 apartments at the Kirkgate site.
Supporting infrastructure described in the plans includes safer road layouts, landscaped public spaces and active travel routes intended to promote walking and cycling, creating a sustainable neighbourhood focus on health and wellbeing.
Local leadership and next steps
The council leader framed the approval as a milestone that will help define the city centre’s direction over the next decade, highlighting quality housing, increased public spaces and a balance between retail and other uses to draw more people into the centre. A detailed planning application for Phase Two will be submitted later this year, and demolition work tied to the broader regeneration is expected to begin at one of the shopping centres later this year, with the main centre scheduled for demolition towards the end of 2026.
Delivery arrangements for the first phase include a preferred funding partner selected to support townhouses for sale and rent, subject to a final legal agreement. The phased approach and partnership structure are positioned to align housing delivery with recent investment in transport and public infrastructure already underway in the city centre.
Implications and outlook
Approval of Phase One converts long-standing planning concepts into deliverable construction activity, with the initial townhouses creating a tangible community anchor in Chain Street. If subsequent phases follow the outline approvals, the project will introduce substantial new residential capacity alongside three new landscaped green spaces intended to complement recent pedestrianisation improvements.
Recent updates indicate the City Village programme will proceed in stages; details may evolve as legal agreements are finalised and later planning applications are lodged. The immediate effect is a cleared path for Chain Street housing and a clear signal that the wider city centre transformation is moving into delivery.
