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7:30am Saturday 23rd May 2009 in
Developing a sports village at Odsal could cost either £75 million or £57 million, with the more expensive option meeting everything on backers’ “wish-list”.
Several ideas for Odsal Sports Village have been whittled down to two – with both containing a stadium for Bradford Bulls, a community sports facility with a 25-metre pool, and a 120-bed hotel.
But the £75m scheme involves a completely new 18,000 all-seat stadium created by raising the pitch level by 15 metres, 80,000sq ft of sports retail and extra parking.
The cheaper option would see the existing stadium redeveloped with seats and a cantilevered roof added to the existing east stand.
Current guaranteed funding only runs to £19.1m – with Bradford Council earmarking £15m of that from funds released by the sale of Leeds-Bradford Airport – and the remainder from regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.
The project’s steering group hopes to bring in £18.5m in commercial retail and sponsorship, £15m in contributions from its primary partners – such as the Bulls, Bradford College, Bradford University, NHS Bradford and Airedale – as well as more from Yorkshire Forward.
A further £14.8m could come from external grant funding, such as the European Regional Development Fund, Sport England, the Football Foundation, and the governing bodies of various sports.
A report to the Council’s decision-making executive states that the first scheme presents an opportunity for the district to “reposition itself as a centre for sporting excellence” and allows greater flexibility to incorporate additional facilities.
However, the “cost may be prohibitively expensive or cause delays in delivery as additional external funding is required”, says the report.
The build programme would also take longer with having to raise the height of the stadium.
The second option “presents a more affordable solution that can be built on a tighter timescale” and it might also be “better value for money”, the report points out.
Yet the mix of seating and standing at the revamped stadium would limit the options for it to be used for other events and sports.
Bradford Bulls chairman, Peter Hood, said: “The multi-faceted Odsal Sports Village offers many reasons for people to come to Bradford – there will be the possibility of students being able to enjoy full-time education on site and visitors who will boost tourism.
“The scheme is now at a crucial stage. A number of stakeholders – notably Bradford Council, Yorkshire Forward and Bradford Bulls – have pledged financial commitment. Other stakeholders such as some sports national governing bodies have yet to do the same.”
The meeting takes place at City Hall on June 2, at 2pm.
Councillors will be asked to choose the £75m scheme as the preferred option and Jane Glaister, the Council’s strategic director of culture, tourism and sport, is set to be authorised to appoint specialists to develop the project further on that basis.
e-mail: jo.winrow @telegraphandargus.co.uk
Comments(58)
albion
says...
9:26am Sat 23 May 09
Mike Strutter
says...
9:31am Sat 23 May 09
emma72
says...
9:42am Sat 23 May 09
bradfordmark
says...
9:45am Sat 23 May 09
Mike Strutter
says...
9:52am Sat 23 May 09
emma72 wrote:Whilst I am not in favour of blowing £75m on a sports stadium it will probably bring in more revenue than blowing £75m on the city centre.
We already have a pool at odsal
We already have a stadium at odsal,
We already have a hotel at odsal
We don't have a citycentre
What on earth are the council playing at!!!
But then I wouldn't expect any change. They had the opportunity to change the leader but kept Hopkins. And the LIb DEms have the opportunity to withdraw their support of the existing council but won't - perhaps the Telegraph (thats the Telegraph not the highly biased T&A) should start looking into how our councils are operating
keeponclucking
says...
9:52am Sat 23 May 09
Mike Strutter
says...
10:12am Sat 23 May 09
keeponclucking wrote:When were they in the premier league ? Years ago, and where are they now ?
How much will Bradford Council be giving to Bradford City FC? Football being the National sport & City having achieved by comparison more than the Bulls ever can in their regionalised sport. Or to put it another way it's far more of an achievement to reach the Premier League in football than it is to be in the Super(?)League in Rugby - & yet when City were in danger of going out of business the Council didn't want to get involved. Any sports village at Odsal will be a novelty that will go out of fashion as quickly as the Richard Dunn Sports Centre. The idea that people will trail up there from all areas of Bradford is a nonsense.
djmoulson
says...
10:27am Sat 23 May 09
spleen ventor
says...
10:32am Sat 23 May 09
ms walker
says...
11:39am Sat 23 May 09
spleen ventor wrote:still got the giant hole in the ground that is Westfield though...perhaps the Bulls could relocate... ;-)
I'm going for the "raise the pitch level by 15 metres" option.
They'll then run out of money, but at least the giant hole in the ground that is Odsal, will have finally been filled in!
KCAJRETSOF
says...
12:46pm Sat 23 May 09
spanglishbull.uk
says...
1:03pm Sat 23 May 09
Mike Strutter
says...
3:48pm Sat 23 May 09
no glory following city wrote:Moved to Queensbury, loved the views and then moved down the hill to Halifax.
Mike Strutter, what made you move over to Bradford from Leeds?
Leeds is such a great place, Bradford a clueless cr@phole. What you doing living here?
theanorak
says...
4:01pm Sat 23 May 09
Common Sense for Bradford
says...
4:54pm Sat 23 May 09
keeponclucking
says...
6:01pm Sat 23 May 09
Mike Strutter wrote:I don't think we are quite looking at this from the same angle. There are 92 teams in the football league & Premier league & another 24 in the Conference,many of which are of the same standard as division 2.How many quality teams do you have to beat to attain a place in the Super(ha ha)League - answer practically none.And then when you do get there they bring in rules to prevent you from being relegated if you get crowds in excess of 5,000!What a joke.Compare that with what is needed in order to get into the Premier League!
keeponclucking wrote: How much will Bradford Council be giving to Bradford City FC? Football being the National sport & City having achieved by comparison more than the Bulls ever can in their regionalised sport. Or to put it another way it's far more of an achievement to reach the Premier League in football than it is to be in the Super(?)League in Rugby - & yet when City were in danger of going out of business the Council didn't want to get involved. Any sports village at Odsal will be a novelty that will go out of fashion as quickly as the Richard Dunn Sports Centre. The idea that people will trail up there from all areas of Bradford is a nonsense.When were they in the premier league ? Years ago, and where are they now ? From a Leeds Rhinos supporter I have to say the Bulls achievements far outweigh anything Bradford City have done. Grand Finals and Challenge cups in a league containing great teams like Leeds, Wigan & Saints are some achievements. Getting to the premier league and staying there for 2 seasons is still an achievement but look at them now. All that aside, if the Bulls want a new stadium then they should fund it themselves.
Expatfordian
says...
6:48pm Sat 23 May 09
pudsey.bantam
says...
6:49pm Sat 23 May 09
Expatfordian
says...
7:00pm Sat 23 May 09
pudsey.bantam wrote:I would say that to be fair to the bantams, the council could do just as you suggest. As I said though a joint stadium may be better for both clubs, even if it had to be away from both valley parade AND odsal
Well,Well,Well Bradford councill are helping the Bulls again with City in the background,as usual The council seem hell bent on developing Odsal,at a cost of £75,0000,obviously to support the Bulls. If the development does take place,i suppose they will expect City to let them play at Valley Parade again,while the construction is taking place. As City is better supported than the Bulls,could the council help City & buy Valley Parade back for them,then rent it back at a peppercorn rent, The same terms as they have done for the Bulls over the years at Odsal. This would help City and play on an even keel with the Bulls.
djmoulson
says...
9:22pm Sat 23 May 09
pudsey.bantam wrote:Read my comment of 10:27am PB, I think exactly the same...
Well,Well,Well Bradford councill are helping the Bulls again with City in the background,as usual The council seem hell bent on developing Odsal,at a cost of £75,0000,obviously to support the Bulls. If the development does take place,i suppose they will expect City to let them play at Valley Parade again,while the construction is taking place. As City is better supported than the Bulls,could the council help City & buy Valley Parade back for them,then rent it back at a peppercorn rent, The same terms as they have done for the Bulls over the years at Odsal. This would help City and play on an even keel with the Bulls.
oddshapedballs
says...
11:10pm Sat 23 May 09
pudsey.bantam wrote:Wish it was £75,0000 I might fund it myself!! City moaners shut up. It's not going to happen SHUT UP!!!
Well,Well,Well Bradford councill are helping the Bulls again with City in the background,as usual The council seem hell bent on developing Odsal,at a cost of £75,0000,obviously to support the Bulls. If the development does take place,i suppose they will expect City to let them play at Valley Parade again,while the construction is taking place. As City is better supported than the Bulls,could the council help City & buy Valley Parade back for them,then rent it back at a peppercorn rent, The same terms as they have done for the Bulls over the years at Odsal. This would help City and play on an even keel with the Bulls.
Tricky Dicky
says...
11:42pm Sat 23 May 09
eadwager
says...
11:53pm Sat 23 May 09
djmoulson
says...
12:04am Sun 24 May 09
oddshapedballs wrote:OSB: Shut up, why? While the council plough MORE of our taxpayers money into the land fill that is Odsal, I'm certainly not expecting anything from the Council, we never do, but it would be nice for an equal share if they're throwing our money around, £2.5m isn't much, and 2 or even 3 successful teams in Bradford will bring much more revenue, and as a fan of both codes, I'm sad to say that the 2 years BCFC were in the Premiership brought Bradford more positive publicity than the Bulls have in all their success.
pudsey.bantam wrote: Well,Well,Well Bradford councill are helping the Bulls again with City in the background,as usual The council seem hell bent on developing Odsal,at a cost of £75,0000,obviously to support the Bulls. If the development does take place,i suppose they will expect City to let them play at Valley Parade again,while the construction is taking place. As City is better supported than the Bulls,could the council help City & buy Valley Parade back for them,then rent it back at a peppercorn rent, The same terms as they have done for the Bulls over the years at Odsal. This would help City and play on an even keel with the Bulls.Wish it was £75,0000 I might fund it myself!! City moaners shut up. It's not going to happen SHUT UP!!!
Bingley BCFC
says...
12:47am Sun 24 May 09
Mike Strutter wrote:Of course the City centre can be saved Mike,i along with many others still do all my familys shopping in Bradford and its Met district shops,i'm sure once the new shopping centre eventually gets built Bradford city centre will be back to its bustling best.
emma72 wrote: We already have a pool at odsal We already have a stadium at odsal, We already have a hotel at odsal We don't have a citycentre What on earth are the council playing at!!! But then I wouldn't expect any change. They had the opportunity to change the leader but kept Hopkins. And the LIb DEms have the opportunity to withdraw their support of the existing council but won't - perhaps the Telegraph (thats the Telegraph not the highly biased T&A) should start looking into how our councils are operatingWhilst I am not in favour of blowing £75m on a sports stadium it will probably bring in more revenue than blowing £75m on the city centre. The city centre cannot be saved Emma despite all your good intentions and petitions. Bradford will NEVER compete with Leeds and any money spent on it will be a waste. Westfield could be built now but let's face it the M606 and M62 would still be full of people heading to Leeds & Manchester.
Expatfordian
says...
2:20am Sun 24 May 09
Bingley BCFC wrote:BingleyBCFC,
Mike Strutter wrote:Of course the City centre can be saved Mike,i along with many others still do all my familys shopping in Bradford and its Met district shops,i'm sure once the new shopping centre eventually gets built Bradford city centre will be back to its bustling best. I agree with one or two others on this thread that the council should buy back the Valley Parade,as for Odsal being rebuilt,that would be good as well.I don't think Bradford city should ground share unless it's at VP.As for Valley Parade being wrongly situated,i thinks its imperative that bcfc stay in the vacinity of the City centre,the last thing Bradford needs is more of the indigenous population staying on the outskirts of the city.City fans must contribute greatly to the City centres various shops and pubs on matchdays and that needs to continue.emma72 wrote: We already have a pool at odsal We already have a stadium at odsal, We already have a hotel at odsal We don't have a citycentre What on earth are the council playing at!!! But then I wouldn't expect any change. They had the opportunity to change the leader but kept Hopkins. And the LIb DEms have the opportunity to withdraw their support of the existing council but won't - perhaps the Telegraph (thats the Telegraph not the highly biased T&A) should start looking into how our councils are operatingWhilst I am not in favour of blowing £75m on a sports stadium it will probably bring in more revenue than blowing £75m on the city centre. The city centre cannot be saved Emma despite all your good intentions and petitions. Bradford will NEVER compete with Leeds and any money spent on it will be a waste. Westfield could be built now but let's face it the M606 and M62 would still be full of people heading to Leeds & Manchester.
theanorak
says...
9:45am Sun 24 May 09
djmoulson
says...
10:57am Sun 24 May 09
theanorak wrote:What also worries me is the location Osdal is in geographically, for a multi-sport venue I'd hardly endear myself to playing/training there if I was competing, it's openness to the elements and wind with it being so high up must proove a problem? I'm not saying VP is the answer to that, but if there was a place lower down, sheltered from the weather it would be more appealing to all, even Canal Road??
75 million for an 18,000 seat stadium ! Bolton's Reebok cost £35 million 28,000 seats, Hulls KC stadium £44M, 25.4k seats, Reading FC built on a waste dump site £50M, 24k seats.
ms walker
says...
11:45am Sun 24 May 09
theanorak wrote:Good point, and you'd think in a recession it's be even cheaper!
75 million for an 18,000 seat stadium !
Bolton's Reebok cost £35 million 28,000 seats, Hulls KC stadium £44M, 25.4k seats, Reading FC built on a waste dump site £50M, 24k seats.
Adey
says...
11:56am Sun 24 May 09
Mike Strutter wrote:If you read the report, only £15m of the funding is coming from the Council. The rest is coming from the private companies that will be using it and Sport England funding...like the council would spend
Why should the taxpayer fund a sports village that will be predominantly occupied by a private company ? Also why a 5 metre pool and not a 50 metre pool ?? Anyway, the Bulls will be history by the time this stadium is built and they will have lost their SL franchise so it's all irrelevant.
albion
says...
12:08pm Sun 24 May 09
Adey wrote:It needs to be made clear who would have to pay the excess when the project (if built) goes massively over budget.
Mike Strutter wrote:If you read the report, only £15m of the funding is coming from the Council. The rest is coming from the private companies that will be using it and Sport England funding...like the council would spend
Why should the taxpayer fund a sports village that will be predominantly occupied by a private company ? Also why a 5 metre pool and not a 50 metre pool ?? Anyway, the Bulls will be history by the time this stadium is built and they will have lost their SL franchise so it's all irrelevant.
YorkshireSteel
says...
12:15pm Sun 24 May 09
djmoulson
says...
12:40pm Sun 24 May 09
YorkshireSteel wrote:I agree YS, I've parked my car around the same place for 18 years and not seen ANY cars broken into, 3 times is VERY unlucky!!
Despite the ins and outs of upsetting one group of people whilst pleasing another I think a project such as this should be viewed from the point of if it is successful it might kick start other projects in order to benefit Bradford. It's all got to be one step at a time and to sort this city out it will take tens of years so the sooner any successful projects can start the better. Let's just hope the planners are looking to long term regeneration and not short sighted quick fixes. I'm interested to hear the comment from the Bulls fan about having his car broken into 3 times whilst visiting VP though... that's pretty unlucky it's not happened to me once in all the years I've been going down.
Bingley BCFC
says...
12:50pm Sun 24 May 09
pudsey.bantam
says...
1:00pm Sun 24 May 09
basil fawlty
says...
1:31pm Sun 24 May 09
spanglishbull.uk
says...
2:31pm Sun 24 May 09
haitch
says...
4:00pm Sun 24 May 09
basil fawlty wrote:Any away fans involved then? Anybody from outside the city allowed to use the other sport facilities. Will Bradford Bulls/City play each other or will there be teams from other parts of the country involved who along with there supporters might like to use the Motorway.
i wish people would stop saying that having a stadium at odsal is good because it is next to the motorway! the people of bradford dont need a motorway to get there, they come from the opposite direction - from bradford!
t'old man
says...
8:09pm Sun 24 May 09
spanglishbull.uk wrote:steady on mate dont complicate things by making a sensible comment !!!!
Bingley,I understand Valley Parade is privately owned,how can the council put money into something that does not belong to them.What if the owner says no thanks,I want to leave it as it is.
basil fawlty
says...
10:18pm Sun 24 May 09
SensiBull
says...
10:32pm Sun 24 May 09
t'old man
says...
10:50pm Sun 24 May 09
MP
says...
10:52pm Sun 24 May 09
Tricky Dicky
says...
12:56am Mon 25 May 09
tyker
says...
11:52am Mon 25 May 09
tyker
says...
2:06pm Mon 25 May 09
Soulman
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7:02pm Mon 25 May 09
pudsey.bantam
says...
7:02pm Mon 25 May 09
the Laird
says...
11:50pm Mon 25 May 09
howard naylor
says...
1:47pm Tue 26 May 09
howard naylor
says...
1:47pm Tue 26 May 09
Pippin
says...
1:52pm Tue 26 May 09
spanglishbull.uk
says...
5:48pm Tue 26 May 09
Expatfordian
says...
8:20am Wed 27 May 09
djmoulson wrote:Maybe somebody just don't like RL. I agree three times is bl***y unlucky, and yes it could have happened anywhere. In this day and age we seem to breed the sort of young people that have NO RESPECT for the property of others, nor for themselves.
YorkshireSteel wrote: Despite the ins and outs of upsetting one group of people whilst pleasing another I think a project such as this should be viewed from the point of if it is successful it might kick start other projects in order to benefit Bradford. It's all got to be one step at a time and to sort this city out it will take tens of years so the sooner any successful projects can start the better. Let's just hope the planners are looking to long term regeneration and not short sighted quick fixes. I'm interested to hear the comment from the Bulls fan about having his car broken into 3 times whilst visiting VP though... that's pretty unlucky it's not happened to me once in all the years I've been going down.I agree YS, I've parked my car around the same place for 18 years and not seen ANY cars broken into, 3 times is VERY unlucky!!
Pippin
says...
2:50pm Wed 27 May 09
spanglishbull.uk wrote:The ground is, as you say privately owned,even if he were to wait for the economy to improve(by which time we will be on Odsal scheme Mark 2 million) how much would he get from selling the ground in order for houses to be built on it, given the location.
Once again Pippin the ground is privately owned,the owner may prefer to hold on to the ground and wait for the economy to improve and then to sell it for building houses on.
spanglishbull.uk
says...
4:38pm Wed 27 May 09
Pippin
says...
1:05pm Thu 28 May 09
spanglishbull.uk wrote:Thanks for clearing the bit up about building on VP,and apologies for getting hold of the wrong end of the stick.
Pippin I agree with you the 57 or 75 million pounds are just pie in the sky.My point is this is Bradford you are talking about nothing will be done either at V.P. or Odsal.My point about V.P being sold for building land was said tongue in cheek. I do not wish to see V.P. built on,but it was just a skit at Bfd. Council.They are total waste of space and as I have said many times on here have no interest in Bradford at all,they are only in it for their egos.
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Warthog says...
8:27am Sat 23 May 09
A better idea would be finish the hole in Broadway first.
security words... town-tear.... lol