THE SUCCESS of a Keighley regeneration scheme could be replicated in a rundown area of Bradford city centre.

Keighley Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) brought £2.7 million of lottery and Bradford Council cash to renovate Victorian and Edwardian buildings in the town centre.

The fund, boosted by investment from property owners, involved restoring shopfronts and creating new living space on upper floors.

The council’s regeneration bosses have now unveiled proposals to carry out similar work in the ‘top of town’ area of Bradford.

It is part of a package of measures, due to be discussed today by the council’s regeneration and economy overview and scrutiny committee, aimed at revitalising the shopping zone around Darley Street.

The Keighley THI, which ran for five years, saw the transformation of several high-profile buildings on and around North Street.

They included the listed Jean Junction building in High Street; the North Street Arcade; several shops overlooking Church Green; Keighley Volunteer Centre; York stone flags for North Street, and the former North Street police station, now Keighley Civic Centre.

Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw, whose portfolio includes regeneration, said: “That fund has helped us work wonders in Keighley and now we want to replicate that.”

Within the past few weeks, the council has put in a second bid for Heritage Lottery money, which would be used to start a similar scheme bringing back into use empty or underused historic buildings in Bradford.

Work would focus on the restoration and improvement of building frontages, including shop fronts and architectural detailing. There would also be improvements to pedestrian areas.

A report to today’s regeneration committee says that an initial application to the Heritage Lottery Fund was first submitted in August last year.

The report states: “As is the case with most first submissions, the application was unfortunately not approved.

“Following feedback from Heritage Lottery a revised bid was submitted on August 31, 2016, the outcome of which is expected in January 2017.”

The council’s proposals for Darley Street follow a dramatic fall in custom for traders in what was once Bradford’s main shopping drag.

The THI began in 2011 when Bradford Council won £2 million of lottery funding and invested £700,000 of its own money.

Although much of the THI was hailed as a success, one trader said renovations on Church Street had a devastating impact on her business.

Lauren Ives set up Polished Nails and Beauty salon in Church Street in 2013, and said THI renovations involving her premises dragged on for at least 22 weeks, leading potential clients to assume her salon was closed.