Bradford & District | Archive | 2003 | April | 1
From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Tuesday 1st Apr 2003.
The former Lister Park BMW car showroom on Oak Lane in Manningham has stood as a mute testament to the devastating riots that rocked Bradford two years ago this summer.
The images of burned out cars on the forecourt in July 2001 provided an enduring image of the troubles for many months afterwards.
So the fact that a company has expressed interest in turning the patch of cleared land into a shopping centre is something to be welcomed.
There is no mileage in keeping the site as some kind of unofficial commemoration of the riots and what they meant - it is time to move on.
JCT600, which operated the Lister Park BMW showroom, maintained their confidence in the city when, after their site was all but destroyed in the riots, they relocated it within Bradford's boundaries, and invested a considerable sum in new premises.
Now Baildon-based design consultants Archi-Structure has applied for outline planning permission to build a two-storey shopping centre called Oak Lane Plaza on the site.
The proposal for the 4,900 sq metre site would include a walkway around the shops that take up residence inside the centre, and a central atrium.
It is of course early days, but any application that makes this blighted spot a focal point for the Oak Lane community is a great idea.
A shopping centre might well, as Archi-Structure's Al Samarraie says, draw people into the area and encourage them to use the other shops and services on Oak Lane, which can only help the continuing efforts to strengthen this community.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008