Bradford District Economic Strategy

With a young, diverse, creative and entrepreneurial population of more 550,000 people, Bradford District is one of the most significant growth opportunities in the UK.

Bradford is at a clear moment of opportunity with unprecedented levels of development and once in a generation investment underway that will be brought into sharp focus when Bradford is the UK City of Culture in 2025. Working with our local and regional Partners, Bradford Council is developing a strategy for a productive, inclusive, and sustainable economy.

The strategy will set out actions to capitalise on our sector strengths, innovation assets and business networks to grow our economy by supporting new and existing businesses to innovate, invest and grow creating more good jobs. We want Bradford to be the best place for business to set up and grow. We want more successful, high value businesses providing more and better paid jobs.

A skilled, resilient and healthy population is a central foundation of a more productive economy, successful businesses and thriving communities. We will work with business alongside education and skills providers to build a demand-led skills system that will give people the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to succeed and create a high-performance workforce that will drive higher value business and jobs growth.

We want a vibrant and prosperous district where all our places are great place live and work. Building on significant ongoing investment we will maximise the potential of our unique mix of urban and rural places building on our distinctive cultural and natural assets to enable sustainable and inclusive growth in all our places. Transformative investment in a new through rail station, mass transit and low carbon infrastructure will enable a better-connected Bradford to drive sustainable growth not just for Bradford District but across the whole of the north. Investment to address the climate emergency will make Bradford an exemplar for sustainable clean growth.