It is clear from the strength of the vote on Bradford Council’s regulatory and appeals committee that the case for demolition of the Odeon was well-made – five out of its seven councillors voting in favour.

They understood that the building will never be listed and, having visited it for themselves, both inside and out, now see that options for retaining it are not financially viable, especially as independent consultants say it could cost up to £14m to repair before any conversion to other uses.

It would be a tragedy if this project is now further slowed by an unnecessary and expensive public inquiry which could cost tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds to complete and which could cause huge delays to Bradford’s ongoing regeneration efforts and mean that the City Park could well be completed against a backdrop of a white-elephant eyesore.

As we have stated in this column before, and as the Council has recognised, all efforts must now be made to ensure the developers are held to a contract which guarantees delivery of the project to an agreed timescale.

The penalty for not achieving this must be that the project is taken back into local control and another developer offered the opportunity to bring new life to this key regeneration site in the city.