THE Labour leader of Kirklees Council has said he will take legal advice before confirming whether the authority had a business case for buying Huddersfield’s George Hotel.

Clr Shabir Pandor’s comment follows continued pressure from opposition groups.

His reluctance to give a definitive answer will pour fuel on the growing view that the council acted without due diligence when it spent £1.8m on the building.

The council has rejected that charge.

It is the latest stage in the increasingly messy saga of the George, which is currently the subject of a tug-of-war over whether it should house a National Rugby League Museum, which was originally due to open in Bradford City Hall before that scheme was dropped in 2020.

At a Cabinet meeting (Feb 22) Clr Pandor was asked directly by senior Conservative John Taylor: “It’s a yes/no question: does a business case exist for acquisition of the George Hotel?”

Clr Pandor replied: “I’ll get back to you on that because I can’t answer yes or no at this moment in time.

“I need to seek advice. I don’t want to make any comments just in case the interpretations are misrepresented.”

Clr Pandor has previously said that a business case did exist for the acquisition of the hotel. However the council has not produced the document leading to uncertainty over whether one was created.

Clr Taylor said he was “struggling” with Clr Pandor’s response.

He said: “I would hope as leader of the council you had sight of the business case for the acquisition of the George Hotel before it was acquired.”

Clr Pandor initially offered to share private papers relating to the purchase but when Clr Taylor reiterated that he wanted an answer to “a very simple question”, Clr Pandor said: “I will not get you the papers and I will not seek advice on that.

“We had all the information that we needed to make a decision.”

Senior Labour councillor Peter McBride said the Tories were pointedly trying to suggest a business case was needed “for any action you might take” as part of a wider plan.

He dismissed that rationality as “insane”.

He added: “We acquired the hotel, which was a reasonable thing to do, because it was a sensible thing that was in the interests of the town.

“Every time you have an issue of that nature, do you need a business plan? If you’d had that you would never have done anything.”

He accused the Conservatives of needing a business plan “for everything” when they themselves had “no answers”, which he described as “their standard”.

The council is currently in an impasse with the charity Rugby League Cares over a potential future venue for the sport’s museum.

The council says the George Hotel – the birthplace of the sport in 1895 – is not compatible with being run as a hybrid hotel/museum and that space can be found within the “cultural quarter” being planned as part of the so-called Huddersfield Blueprint.

Meanwhile the multi-million-pound refurbishment of the George has been paused and will recommence in the spring.