So, what has Bradford’s Occupy Westfield movement achieved?

There’s a sign which hangs high up on a building in the heart of Bradford’s city centre. It reads, “Bradford – one landscape many views”. Well, perhaps. But for the last eight years the main thing confronting those who live and work in the city has been a giant hole where a brand new Westfield shopping centre was supposed to be.

When the ambitious development was first announced back in 2003, it was claimed it would create 3,000 jobs. Those jobs, along with the shops, restaurants and bars, never did materialise and the demolished 1960s buildings were replaced by derelict waste ground. In fact, until the end of last month there had been no obvious activity on the site for years.

On May 26, a group of protestors aligned with the Occupy movement set up camp on the Westfield site and hung up their own banners. One of them says “here’s the destruction... but where’s the construction”, while another bears the V for Vendetta mask which has become the movement’s most recognisable symbol.

When they arrived they were demanding a public inquiry into the stalled development, but now they admit even getting a revised timetable from Westfield is unlikely. Three weeks in and it’s not entirely clear what will persuade the protestors to walk away.

“I was born and bred here and after eight years of seeing nothing happen we had to do something,” says Adnan Awan, who has been on site since day one. “I’m not a politically minded person or at least I wasn’t, but I remember going shopping here holding my mum’s hand. This isn’t about bricks and mortar, it’s about people and the people of Bradford have been let down.

“All these shops were bought by compulsory purchase orders. People had no choice but to sell up, but there was no contract in place, just an agreement which wasn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Ask any Joe Bloggs, they are all really angry and with good cause.”

While other similar protests have attracted publicity by pitching their tents outside iconic buildings from New York’s stock exchange to St Paul’s Cathedral, when your grievance is a hole surrounded by hoardings, Occupy Westfield was always going to have a problem with visibility.

It’s partly the reason for the banners and also why during the day most of the demonstrators – up to 40 at a weekend – spend their time out in the city centre mustering support for a petition calling on Westfield to provide a start date for the development.

“It’s crazy that our money is being pumped into an economy like Leeds because the only thing Bradford has left is a giant hole,” says Adnan, one of half a dozen or so protestors on the site when we visited. “I know that other towns and cities are experiencing the same problems, but they’re not like Bradford. Forty years ago we were one of the richest places in the country, richer than Manchester and Leeds and that wealth has just been allowed to drain away.

“An artist dropped by the other day with a picture he had painted of how the area looked in 1945. It was the real heart of the city, but it’s been derelict for so long that it’s almost as though they think we’ll put up with it. The council say talks are ongoing, but the people of Bradford have been left out of the conversation and that can’t be right.

“At one point Westfield said the development would be complete by the second quarter of 2012. They’ve got two weeks left, so I don’t fancy their chances.”

With the history of the site littered with false starts and broken promises, many doubt Westfield’s most recent reassurances that they are close to securing the commitment of major retailers. When the development company, which is behind the flagship mall next to the Olympic Park in Stratford, first unveiled its blueprint for Bradford the plans came with the tagline “redefining retail in Bradford”.

Westfield has already invested millions into the site and submitted a smaller planning application to Bradford City Council last year. However, with its vision still lying in rubble, the three-week Occupy encampment has at the very least made the company put their head above the parapet again albeit with words that have been heard in this part of BD1 many times before.

“We totally appreciate the frustrations, but are totally committed to make this development work in Bradford,” says a Westfield spokesman.

“We are close to securing a second anchor tenant alongside Debenhams and this protest isn’t particularly helpful when you are trying to put leases in place. We want to work with the people of Bradford, not against them. That’s always been our message and it remains so.

“We are in conversation with the protestors and we would ask them again to leave our land.”

Evidence of the uphill struggle Westfield faces in attracting high street retailers to a city like Bradford is everywhere. Just a few yards away from the site are two large historic buildings that have been converted into offices. Both have large To Let signs draped over the front.

While the lack of development on Broadway is the result of the economic downturn, the hole it left further blighted the hope of much needed investment in the city. The Occupy protestors claim they have the backing of a number of local businesses, which have come forward with offers of discounted food and access to hot water. When asked which ones, Adnan waves his arms, “Lots of them, ask the Midland Hotel, ask any of them.”

The general manager of the hotel, which has a prime view over the hole, declines to comment on the Occupy protest and the city’s Chamber of Commerce has described it as both “counter-productive” and undermining the work of those to “paint Bradford as a worthwhile place to live.”

Towards the end of last year, the city was awarded £35m as part of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund. It was hoped the money would build confidence in the Westfield scheme, but with no firm timetable yet in place, frustrations are growing.

The protest has been a peaceful affair – the only run-in with police has been when protestors built their own impromptu bonfire.

However, coming on the back of the surprise election of George Galloway as MP for Bradford West, the arrival of the Occupy protest is seen by some as further sign of a city determined to do things its own way.

“In the last few months Bradford has found itself in the political limelight and part of the reason for staging this protest was to capitalise on that,” says Adnan. “I wish there were another hundred George Galloways. Sometimes you need a person who everyone seems to hate to get some attention on a place. People here have felt for a while they haven’t had a voice, but now they do. Mr Galloway is part of that, but I also know he’s just an MP.”

Chris Chilvers, northern organiser for Galloway’s Respect Party has come to Bradford to lend his support to Occupy. He talks of the “huge reservoir of discontent” which exists across Britain, particularly in the north and how protest movements “have changed the terms of the political debate.”

It’s a kind of call to arms, but Adnan and the other protestors know that if they are to achieve anything they need the support not just of Respect, but of the other 90 councillors from the three main parties. Unfortunately, of the two Labour councillors whose ward covers the Westfield development, one is on holiday and the other is unavailable for comment. Occupy hasn’t decided when it will move off Westfield’s land, but with 20,000 signatures already on their petition the group have struck a chord with those who walk by the green hoardings no longer bothering to look through the gaps to see if the diggers have arrived.

“It would be nice if we could leave here having been given a date for when work will start,” says Adnan, who is supposed to be starting a new job next week. “But if we left right this minute it would have been worth doing.”

THE PLANS THAT TIME FORGOT

1998: Plans for a major new shopping centre, including Debenhams and Marks & Spencer first mooted.

2004: Demolition of buildings on the Broadway site begins.

2006: The site is cleared, but plans to begin building work are put on hold.

2007: The original completion date for the shopping centre passes.

2008: Westfield announce that a number of big high street names have signed up to the scheme, but Broadway remains a building site.

2011: Westfield submits a scaled back planning application for a £275m development.

2012: As Occupy move onto the rubble, Westfield insists that it is very close to securing another big name for the development.