Go-ahead secured for Bradford City Village

Set to be delivered by Bradford Council and ECF, the project will transform the ‘Top of Town’, which includes the Oastler, Kirkgate and Chain Street areas.

This flagship community will create up to 1,000 homes – including a mix of affordable and private rented tenures – and build on existing retail, leisure and business space.

Plans were lodged in September last year by the local authority and ECF, the partnership between regeneration-led developer Muse, L&G and national body Homes England.

The wider team for Bradford City Village includes 5plus Architects, re-form Landscape Architecture, Avison Young, Cushman & Wakefield and Turner & Townsend.

The neighbourhood is one of seven ‘game-changing’ regeneration projects within the council’s 10-year growth plan, and supports government ambitions to improve residential housing density in city centres, as set out in the Northern Growth Strategy 2026.

A detailed planning application for Phase One has been approved, which will deliver:

• 33 townhouses on Chain Street, centred around a new community green. Featuring a mix of two and three-bedroom homes designed to suit a range of household sizes and needs, each with designated parking space.
• A further 64 two and three-bedroom townhouses on the northern Oastler site, arranged around a series of courtyards and green spaces, each with designated parking space.
• Supporting infrastructure including safer roads, landscaped public spaces and active travel routes that promote walking and cycling to help create a sustainable community with health and wellbeing at its heart.

Bradford-based affordable housing provider, Incommunities, has been selected as ECF’s preferred funding partner to deliver the first phase of townhouses for sale and rent, subject to a final legal agreement.

Outline plans have also been approved for the wider regeneration, which will include more than 300 apartments on the southern half of the Oastler site, alongside 400 apartments at Kirkgate.

Demolition of the former Oastler Shopping Centre, which closed permanently in June 2025 with many traders relocating to the new Darley Street Marke, is expected to begin later this year.

The 1970s-built Kirkgate Shopping Centre will also be taken down to make way for future phases. It will close later this year. City Village will also see three new landscaped green spaces.

A detailed planning application for phase two of City Village will be submitted later this year.

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council said: “This is a milestone moment in what will be a landmark chapter for our city, one that will unleash the full economic potential of Bradford as we align city centre improvements in housing, transport, retail and entertainment.

“City Village is so much more than a housing development; it will be transformative for the city centre – which was why it was recently announced as one of seven ‘game-changing’ regeneration projects in the district.”

Simon Dew, director of development management Yorkshire and Northeast at ECF, said: “Now that we have planning approval, our ambitious vision for City Village will start to become a reality. 2025 was a milestone year for Bradford – with its hugely successful UK City of Culture programme, the opening of Darley Street Market and Bradford Live, as well as the award-winning public space improvements.

“The council is fully committed to continuing this momentum and has major ambitions for the future of this city. Using our knowledge and expertise in placemaking – we will continue to unlock its economic potential and deliver real change, cementing its growing reputation as a place where people can live, work and thrive.”

Investment secured includes £13.1m in-principle funding from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, a key partner helping to deliver the neighbourhood, alongside £30m of government funding via Homes England.

City Village is one of 15 places identified in the Strategic Place Partnership between the WYCA and Homes England which aims to unlock ambitious, complex residential regeneration and boost the delivery of thousands more homes.