A bid to improve sports facilities in Otley will cost taxpayers more than £27,000 - even if the scheme is rejected, it has been revealed.

Leeds City Council is putting the final touches to a £1.6 million lottery bid to improve public sports facilities at Otley's Prince Henrys Grammar School in Farnley Lane.

If approved, the cash will be used to upgrade the Chippendale Pool and provide a new fitness suite, changing rooms and resurface the tennis courts

But is has cost £27,500 to assemble the bid, by Manchester-based Strategic Leisure Ltd, with more work to be done before it is submitted to lottery distributors, Sports England.

And the procedure has taken longer than expected as council officers make final adjustments to the application.

Now, Otley city and town councillor Graham Kirkland is calling the bid a waste of money and is asking why the firm of consultants could not have been employed on a no win, no fee basis.

He said: "It is a complete waste of money, I would have thought a no win, no fee agreement would have been better."

But councillor John Eveleigh, also a town and city councillor, says the use of Strategic Leisure has given the application credibility that it might otherwise have lacked.

He said: "Ideally, I would like to see council officers do this sort of thing, but there is not the level of expertise.

"It is a lot of money, but they (Strategic Leisure) are a renowned company that have had a lot of success in the past."

To get its money, Strategic Leisure carried out an initial feasibility study and then prepared a detailed bid. That bid is now with Leeds leisure services for any adjustments to be made.

Coun Eveleigh said the fact that the city council had sunk so much money in preparing a bid showed it was committed to getting better sports facilities in Otley.

"We would not have been in with a shout if we had not done this. We've got to weigh it up - putting in £27,000 in order to be in with a chance of getting the £1.6 million jackpot."

Coun Eveleigh said he was sorry that the application procedure had taken longer than expected - when the scheme was first mooted a year ago it was hoped building would start about now.

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