Why Bradford must not miss out in Northern Powerhouse Rail plans - Yorkshire Post letters

LEAKED documents suggesting that Bradford city centre might be excluded from Northern Powerhouse Rail will come as no surprise to those of us that have grown used to grandiose plans for the city turning to sand.

Bradford city centre at risk of being dropped from Northern Powerhouse Rail project

Let’s be honest, a HS3 station for Bradford really only represents the scraps from Leeds’ HS2 table – an inevitability following its absorption into the Leeds City Region in 2007.

Any suggestion that Bradford can’t even have its city centre NPR station cements for Bradfordians the Government’s perception of their rightful place, which should be no shock following the decision to move HMRC – Bradford’s last government department – eight miles to the east.

As if Bradfordians needed any further evidence that they should know their place, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority recently approved a £24m road improvement scheme around Leeds’ Corn Exchange despite being assessed to be very poor value for money – a conclusion unlikely to be reached west of Pudsey.

Has any other British city in recent years been so starved of investment as poor old Bradford?

HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail are key to the future prosperity of the North and this is why - Barry White

To deny Bradford its Northern Powerhouse Rail station will only have the effect of depriving an already cash-starved city of the much-needed investment it so desperately craves.

Don’t let your neighbours in Bradford fall even further behind. Please, let Bradford be part of your Northern Powerhouse.