Save the Odeon campaigners should learn within the next fortnight whether their final attempt to have the building listed is successful.
They hope that if the Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport agrees to protect the 77-year-old landmark, it will stop it being demolished and the site developed.
But five previous attempts to have the building listed have failed and everything is on hold until the DCMS make their decision.
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Norman Littlewood, chairman of the Bradford Odeon Rescue Group, has petitioned Bradford Council over the matter.
A report for the regulatory and appeals committee into the Odeon states that an earlier request for a Building Preservation Notice was deferred while the DCMS decided whether the building should be listed.
In the meantime, owners Yorkshire Forward, which bought the building for £2 million in 2003, gave a guarantee they would not undertake any further work.
The cinema and bingo hall, which closed in 2000, is earmarked for demolition as part of a £55 million New Victoria Place scheme.
And a planning application for the mixed-use development of offices, apartments and a hotel has also been put on hold.
The design by Langtree Group, Artisan and Carey Jones Architects, was chosen in a design competition run by Bradford Centre Regeneration, and would see the former Odeon cinema and its twin towers demolished.
The Council's own conservation area assessment for the city centre, into which the Odeon site now falls, says "the twin domes are its most interesting feature and do make a positive contribution to the streetscape in this part of the conservation area".
But it goes on to say that "the building itself is not considered to be of exceptional quality" and that a new building of "modern, high quality, design could make an equally, if not more impressive contribution to what is a key site".
The Council's report into Mr Littlewood's petition will be heard at a meeting on Wednesday at 10am in City Hall.
Posted by: mrs walker, round here on 2:44am Fri 25 Jan 08
I wish it could be a dancehall where we could all go a-waltzing and a-pogoing again. I'm getting a bad feeling in my bones about the forth-coming recession (depression?) Are 'offices, apartments and a hotel' really the best the town planners can come up with? Look at the empty apartments on Sunbridge Rd and the masses of office space already available.. Then look at what Bradford - and Leeds!- haven't got, like a decent large venue for example...
I wish it could be a dancehall where we could all go a-waltzing and a-pogoing again. I'm getting a bad feeling in my bones about the forth-coming recession (depression?) Are 'offices, apartments and a hotel' really the best the town planners can come up with? Look at the empty apartments on Sunbridge Rd and the masses of office space already available.. Then look at what Bradford - and Leeds!- haven't got, like a decent large venue for example...
Posted by: The Bradford Bugler, Bradford on 8:26am Fri 25 Jan 08
I read a while back that Leeds Council is putting it's share of the money from the airport sell off towards building a purpose built concert hall/arena.
I noticed on the news the other day that Harrogate Kursall has re-opened after an extensive refurbishment. IT was England's last kursall and was on the brink of being closed unless money could be found to do it up. If a town the size of Harrogate can get residents to contribute towards restoring an historic building, why can't Bradford?
Save the Odeon!
I read a while back that Leeds Council is putting it's share of the money from the airport sell off towards building a purpose built concert hall/arena.
I noticed on the news the other day that Harrogate Kursall has re-opened after an extensive refurbishment. IT was England's last kursall and was on the brink of being closed unless money could be found to do it up. If a town the size of Harrogate can get residents to contribute towards restoring an historic building, why can't Bradford?
Posted by: mrs walker, round here on 10:32am Fri 25 Jan 08
[quote][bold]Mr T[/bold] wrote:
I say knock it down and build something better there[/quote] Like a big patch of rubble for example, Mr T?
May I recommend a suitable construction company for that task? ;-)
Mr T wrote:
I say knock it down and build something better there
Like a big patch of rubble for example, Mr T?
May I recommend a suitable construction company for that task? ;-)
Posted by: mrs walker, round here on 10:45am Fri 25 Jan 08
[quote][bold]Pete[/bold] wrote:
Demolish it! The Forster Square landscape is much more appealing. At least it looks as though something is about to happen.[/quote] LOL, but we know the truth (and the tumbleweed rather gives it away...)
Pete wrote:
Demolish it! The Forster Square landscape is much more appealing. At least it looks as though something is about to happen.
LOL, but we know the truth (and the tumbleweed rather gives it away...)
Posted by: Andy Bairsto, bradford on 11:08am Fri 25 Jan 08
Just imagine if they found a crested newt living in Foster Square then they would have a genuine reason not to build.
The problem with the Odeon is that there is no money to refurbish it and no money to knock it down and build anew.We have spent all the money on plans for yachting marinas,glass lakes,and umpteen different versions of a new shopping centre.
All quiet on councillor sound bite front at the moment I am on tender hooks waiting for the next earth shattering statement.
Just imagine if they found a crested newt living in Foster Square then they would have a genuine reason not to build.
The problem with the Odeon is that there is no money to refurbish it and no money to knock it down and build anew.We have spent all the money on plans for yachting marinas,glass lakes,and umpteen different versions of a new shopping centre.
All quiet on councillor sound bite front at the moment I am on tender hooks waiting for the next earth shattering statement.
Posted by: World Nation, Bradford on 11:39am Fri 25 Jan 08
well i still got faith. i just had guarantee reassurance from Yorkshire Forward that the deposit on my beachfront apartment with Medeteranaen seaviews in Hall Ings is safe.
well i still got faith. i just had guarantee reassurance from Yorkshire Forward that the deposit on my beachfront apartment with Medeteranaen seaviews in Hall Ings is safe.
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