Welcome
 Kersten England - Chief Executive, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Welcome to this,
the first edition of Backing Bradford
District – our monthly e-bulletin designed
to keep key stakeholders, leaders and opinion formers abreast of the District’s
positioning and activity on local, regional and national agendas and to
celebrate some of the ground breaking work that goes on here. Offering a
digested read with links and pointers to further information, the bulletin will
help everyone involved in and passionate about advocating for Bradford District
and all the places and people within it to state our case to our public, our regional
partners, to Government and NGOs and public, private and third sector investors
and decision makers. As we develop its content over time we will be inviting
contributions from the Council’s partners across all sectors, sharing our
objectives, ambitions and influence in order to position us to help secure the best possible outcomes
for our communities, businesses and economy.
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 Let's deliver on devolution
It was good to see ministerial status for the Northern Powerhouse
retained by the new Government and the new Minister, Jake Berry MP making a renewed commitment to putting cities like Bradford at the heart of devolution in Yorkshire.
There has been speculation that
the focus on Brexit could lead to a loss of momentum for further devolution of
resources and powers to our regions, something we can ill afford to happen if
Bradford District is to play its full part in the national economy.
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 Next Stop Bradford - Northern Powerhouse Rail
The Queen’s Speech re-affirmed the Government’s commitment to the HS2
high speed rail network and our “Next Stop Bradford“ campaign is calling
on Government and Transport for the North to ensure that Bradford gets a Northern
Powerhouse Rail stop which will add £1.3 billion to our economy and connect our
talent, enterprise and energy to opportunities across the north.
Northern Powerhouse Rail is the strategic rail programme for investment
in world class high speed rail links between Northern cities and towns enabling
them to work as a single economy. It’s being led and developed by Transport for
the North, a partnership of northern local authorities and businesses.
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 #bradfordeconomy
Bradford
Council is working with its Producer City partners to develop a new Economic
Growth Strategy for the district that will focus on identifying the actions
that will bring the most benefit to our economy. A series of workshops
have been held to gain input across a number of themes including:
- Bradford’s place in the north
- Our globally connected city and district
- Our young and future economy
- Leeds and Bradford: growing together
- Our sector strengths and opportunities
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 Culture driving confidence
July kicked off with another chapter in the runaway success
story that is Bradford Literature Festival. The Festival’s phenomenal growth is
symbolic of the District’s resurgent self confidence in which culture is
playing a central role, from the Bronte bicentenaries through the new Hockney
Gallery and Splendours of the Sub-Continent to our street festivals, city
centre events and animation of public spaces.
Those in the know have long
recognised that Bradford is home to one of the most diverse, original and enterprising
cultural scenes in the country. The
outstanding creative energy found here is increasingly achieving a national
profile, boosting our reputation as a cultural destination.
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LGA Corporate Peer Challenge
Our
Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Review took place in March. The initial
feedback praised our “exceptionally strong partnership arrangements” and our
“fabulous” staff and pinpointed some of our strengths and areas in which to
consider improvements. We have now received the full feedback report. This gives more detail about the review’s
findings, highlighting more of our good work while providing further
recommendations.
Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI)
Earlier
this year a multi-disciplinary team
of Government Inspectors undertook an in-depth look at the way in which
services across Bradford District work together to protect children living with
domestic abuse. The inspectors’ final report noted that all local agencies have high
aspirations for the District’s children, that services are “very effective” and
are getting the basics right.
UNESCO City of Film - A model of excellence
Bradford’s
UNESCO City of Film programme has
been designated as excellent by UNESCO and a team of other UNESCO Creative
Cities. The accolade recognises the work of the City of Film team in delivering
social and economic impact for the people of Bradford District and in raising
its international profile. The Bradford Film
Office provided support to around 100 film and TV productions in the past year
with one production alone securing 1800 hotel bed nights within a 3 month
period. The Bradford Film Literacy programme continues to develop and now has a
range of international partners and collaborators from across the world, using
culture and creativity to drive educational attainment. Bradford City of Film
is developing links with Qingdao – a city of 9.5m people which is home to the
biggest film studio in the world. You
can read more about the criteria and what it takes to be excellent here.
Engaging With Communities event
July
19th sees Bradford play host to the Local Government Association
launch of its #NewConversations guide to high quality engagement with communities.
Participants will share and discuss learning from councils who have piloted
approaches featured in the guide. The event is also open (at a fee) to
non-Council attendees – further details and bookings at New
conversations: engaging with communities - Bradford
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