<p>Bradford Council is to double the size of a new urban village through the purchase of a shopping mall, unlocking a development that will now feature 1,000 new homes.</p> <p>The council in west Yorkshire has bought the Kirkgate Shopping Centre for <span style="color:black; mso-ansi-language:EN">£15.5 million, meaning that City Village will now include significantly more than the 500 homes originally planned </span><span>and “better address the chronic shortage of top-quality, modern, sustainable housing in the historic city core”, it said.</span></p> <p><span>Bradford Council also said City Village, a sustainable city centre neighbourhood, was key to “making Bradford a world-class place to live, work and play”. It is set to feature a “healthy” and resident-focused environment with public spaces and landscaped, traffic-calmed streets.</span></p> <p><span>The enlarged City Village will also trigger the redevelopment of 13 acres of “premium city-centre” land. The site includes the Kirkgate Shopping Centre - which was once described as “space age” but “aged rapidly” after opening in 1976, the council said – and the Oastler Centre, </span><span>a second shopping precinct</span><span> which Bradford Council said would no longer be needed with the city’s Darley Street Market opening next year.</span></p> <p><span>City Village will also stand alongside other major regeneration projects including the £22 …