Senior Bradford councillors have taken the next step in securing the future of two key city centre sites, by agreeing to take on the former Odeon and the old Tyrls police station for £1 each.

But a final decision will rest on whether the owner of the two sites, the Homes and Communities Agency, agrees to contribute a total of £4.1 million to tackle essential health and safety or maintenance issues across the two buildings.

Last year the HCA had offered to sell the former Odeon to the Council for £1 plus £100,000 of maintenance cash when multi-million-pound plans by a private company to redevelop the site fell through, setting a deadline of March 31 for the deal to take place.

But the Council wants to deal with both sites together and has put together a revised offer, which the HCA had been due to consider tomorrow. This has now been postponed until April because of the detailed financial analysis that the agency will need to undertake before it can make a decision.

Yesterday at a meeting of the Council’s executive, Council leader David Green urged the HCA to make the “right decision” and called for groups with a viable scheme to seize the opportunity and come forward with their plans for the long-empty building.

Coun Green said: “After several years of anger and frustration, the opportunity is here now for people to come forward with schemes and ideas for the Odeon. I hope that all of those who have an interest and have been involved, particularly since Langtree removed themselves from the scheme, would agree that we have been as open as we can be.

“We hope these schemes that come forward will be deliverable, then we can make a judgement in an open and honest way. This is the next phase in the future of the building and we hope we will be given some difficult choices to make, with one, two or three viable schemes coming forward for us to make a decision on.”

A structural survey commissioned by the Council has now concluded that the overall condition of the Odeon building is “reasonable and sound” though the survey does highlight areas of concern including the roof structures of the domes and the building's external facade which need major repairs. This report has been made public.