West Yorkshire: Grim warning as agency slashes millions

Yorkshire Forward is to slash nearly 8m from schemes in Bradford,

Leeds, Huddersfield and Wakefield.

Some of the projects to be hit include the Tower Works redevelopment in Leeds and the Waterfront Quarter project in Huddersfield as well as 2m for "employment growth" schemes being deferred.

Kirklees will bear the brunt, with 600,000 being slashed from employment projects and 1.3m deferred from its Waterfront development.

The council has already announced it is to cut at least 1,500 jobs and leader Mehboob Khan criticised Yorkshire Forward for failing to show a "common sense approach".

"We are extremely worried about increasing unemployment in Kirklees – the public sector are going to have to shed thousands of jobs but there is no strategy or common sense approach coming from the RDA.

"They are cutting the support for the schemes that would increase private sector jobs to balance the public sector losses.

"As a result we are concerned that unemployment is going to rise on a scale never seen before, it is a very bleak outlook for the future of the local economy."

The employment growth projects focus on linking employers and business, devising sustainable employment strategies and retaining those moving into work to prevent them falling back into the benefit system.

Coun Khan said the deferment of the 1.3m for the 175m Waterfront development, which will provide a new base for Kirklees College and, it is hoped, create hundreds of jobs in Huddersfield, will delay the project.

He said: "The Waterfront project was started with a 23m loan from the council to Kirklees College but the rest of the site still needs to be developed and now that is going to be delayed.

"We are hoping to build office space and housing on the rest of the site but the timeframes will need to be looked at."

Bradford will also take a severe hit from the cuts, including deferrals of 1.3m for the City Park scheme, 400,000 from employment schemes and a cut of 100,000 for maintenance work at the Tyrls building.

The six-acre Bradford City Park near City Hall would feature the largest water feature in any UK city – the mirror pool – with fountains, green spaces, public art, relaxation and play areas.

An independent report predicted City Park would attract 2.2 million visits each year, bringing an extra 80m annually to the local economy.

The 24.4m scheme is jointly funded by Bradford Council, Yorkshire Forward, the Homes and Communities Agency and the Regional Transport Board.

Coun David Green, Executive Member for Regeneration and Economy, said: "City Park is a vital development in the heart of the city and it is where much of our regeneration plan is based.

"We are committed to ensuring that it is delivered, we are hoping that it is delivered on time.

"We have seen millions taken out of our budget – from work that has already been contracted – with no indication with how to take regeneration of Bradford forward at a time when the main drivers for growth are being taken from us.

"To say we are frustrated would be a massive understatement – we are struggling to find the logic behind cutting economic development at this time.

"These schemes would see the public sector supporting private sector enterprise."

In Leeds the Financial Services Initiative will have 100,000 cut and the same amount will be taken from the Marketing Leeds project. More than half a million pounds will be deferred from employment growth projects.

The Tower Works development is part of the multi-million pound Holbeck Urban Village. Yorkshire Forward, which acquired the site in 2005, started work in April 2010 and had hoped to complete by March 2011 but that is now unlikely.

If completed it will offer shops, bars and cafes at ground level and offices and residential apartments above.

A Leeds council spokeswoman said: "Obviously any cuts that affect future economic growth in Leeds are of concern to us."