Power games

Though some suggestions to improve relations between these neighbouring cities have been more tongue-in-cheek than others, the latest power struggle will have lasting consequences if crucial regeneration work is compromised.

The complaints of Bradford’s MPs are thus. They believe that the new Local Enterprise Partnership for the Leeds City Region does not give sufficient prominence to their city.

Yet this narrow-minded view does not take sufficient account of the view that Leeds and Bradford are both facing the same economic challenges, and that both cities will benefit if the Aire Valley – and, specifically, the vast Kirkstall Forge site – becomes the centrepiece of a new Enterprise Zone.

Just because the location will fall, predominantly, within the boundary of Leeds Council, does not mean that Bradford is being excluded. Improved railway links will mean its residents will have a strong chance of benefiting from any new opportunities.

These tensions, however, are unsurprising. The Government was warned that the premature disbanding of Yorkshire Forward would lead to authorities becoming inward-looking rather than approaching regeneration issues from a strategic region-wide perspective, and so it has proved.

Yet, given that the Government has signalled that LEPs are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future, it will be to Bradford’s advantage if its representatives work from within to secure a better deal for their residents rather than criticising from the sidelines.