Guaranteed delivery must be the target (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Guaranteed delivery must be the target

7:59am Thursday 27th August 2009 in Our View By Telegraph & Argus

There will no doubt be a great deal of disappointment among members of the Bradford Odeon Rescue Group at the news that their financial backer has withdrawn his support for their “alternative plan” for the site and thrown his weight behind the Langtree Artisan scheme. But, in reality, it will make little or no difference to the planning process.

The site is owned by Yorkshire Forward, the developers have the brief and have worked intensively with the Council, BCR and English Heritage to ensure their scheme fits it.

Rejecting the scheme now on anything but strict planning grounds (which, five years after Langtree Artisan won the design competition, should have been overcome) would, surely, risk expensive legal redress.

The only way BORG could have progressed their scheme would have been if Yorkshire Forward had agreed to sell them the land, which now seems unlikely in the extreme.

Bradford needs to get this site sorted out: this country is littered with old cinema buildings rotting away as discount carpet warehouses or junk stores, a fate that surely awaits the Odeon, if the application is rejected, now that there is not even an unrealistic alternative option on the table.

The latest design for the site is not everyone's cup of tea but in the context of the newly-emerging City Park-led street scene it will, at least, not be out of place and, by contrast with its modern design, will actually show off the Alhambra to far greater effect than the Odeon which currently dominates it.

The real effort by planners must now be put into tying down Langtree Artisan to a rock-solid, legally-enforceable construction timetable that guarantees beyond doubt that Bradford will not be left with another big hole.