The company which built the award-winning McAlpine Stadium in Huddersfield wants to redevelop Odsal, it was revealed today.

Alfred McAlpine Special Projects has submitted plans to create 25,000 seat covered stadium in its existing position with an adjoining leisure and retail park .

It is among six developers who have between them submitted seven schemes to Bradford Council for consideration.

The three joint ventures and three individual companies have thrown their hats into the ring following the collapse of John Garside's £200 million Superdome dream last December.

But the developer which is chosen will have just 18 months to start work before the existing planning permission for the site expires.

The other five are: Chelverton Properties Ltd and Yorkshire Water Estates Ltd; St Modwen Properties plc; Sterling Capitol plc; The Odsal Dome Company and Stadivarios Group Ltd/Pillar Property Investments plc.

Regeneration committee chairman Councillor Dave Green said the Council had hired an independent consultant to examine each of the seven schemes.

The consultant will report to next Wednesday's committee meeting after examining the proposed finances and deciding which will be permissible under the existing planning permission.

"Part of the consultant's remit is to look at the companies' abilities to finance the scheme," said Councillor Green.

"I think it has been argued with some justification that the financial information and checks we did in the previous competition were not stringent enough.

"What we have done this time through the employment of the external consultant is to identify the companies' abilities to deliver both physically and financially.

"We have also made it a proper condition that the companies are going to have a track record of deliverability.

"The existing planning permission for the site runs out in 18 months so that's how much time they have got to get on site.

"I am hopeful that one or more of these bids will be evaluated as being permissible within the planning permission.

"The options on Wednesday are to either select one which is head and shoulders above the others, select none, or pare the list down and look at them again."

Millionaire developer Eddie Healey's company - front runner as far as Bradford Bulls chairman Chris Caisley is concerned - is not among the runners.

But Mr Caisley said he did not think any of the other schemes will get off the ground.

"We have an agreement with Eddie Healey and we will support a development for a stadium at Odsal by his company and he is therefore in pole position," he said.

"None of the people who have put these schemes forward have contacted us so how do they know if they are viable?

"At the end of the day Bradford Bulls are the only users of Odsal stadium under an agreement which runs to 2019 and nobody can do anything without our approval and our consent."

Mr Healey was out of the country and could not be contacted.

Councillor Green said: "Mr Caisley has said all this before. Our priority is to get the best possible deal for the people of the district, Bradford Council and Bradford Bulls and I don't believe these three are mutually exclusive."

Game on for the Odsal seven

Developers have lined up for a dogfight for the prize of redeveloping Odsal Stadium.

Among the six are construction heavyweight Alfred McAlpine and Chelverton Properties which is backed by the muscle of Yorkshire Water Estates.

But other bidders also have a proven track record of stadia development with St Modwen Properties being the developer of Stoke City's 28,000 seat Britannia Stadium which opened in August 1997.

A consortium called the Odsal Dome Company can call on the help of Wembley Stadium Ltd, which has been made a partner in an advisory capacity to steer ambitious plans to create a 70,000 seat sports and leisure arena with a sliding roof and hotel.

The London-based consortium's other members are development company Stannifer, Eurohypo (part of the Deutsche Bank Group) and construction group Takenaka

Odsal Dome has been given the rights to use the original Superdome concept as a basis for its proposal in an agreement with the failed scheme's chief executive John Garside..

The two other developers being considered by Bradford Council are Sterling Capitol plc, of Horsforth, and Stadivarios Group Ltd and Piller Property Investments PLC.

St Modwen Properties, which specialises in brownfield redevelopment, has proposed a £100 million scheme which will include an international class 50,000 seat stadium, and a cinema, shopping and exhibition complex.

Alfred McAlpine Special Projects -- part of the giant Cheshire-based construction group - has proposed creating a 25,000 seat covered stadium in its existing position.

It also plans commercial and leisure facilities, including a health and fitness centre, cinema, and a retail and office park. A hotel would be built north of Rooley Avenue.

As revealed in the T&A last month, London-based Chelverton Properties has teamed up with Yorkshire Water Estates to come up with two options which could each cost about £150 million.

Under the first, the stadium would become a multi-function leisure arena, with a hypermarket, hotel, and entertainment facilities.

Under a second proposal, a 40,000-seat stadium would include a hypermarket, cinema, ten-pin bowling, bar, fast food and restaurants. A four-star hotel would be built at the junction of Rooley Avenue.

Sterling Capitol, plans a 30,000 seat stadium capable of being extended to seat 70,000, plus a range of leisure and retail facilities including a cinema, restaurant, hotel, nightclub, ten pin bowling, and a superstore.

The joint venture between arena operators Stadivarios Group Ltd, of Oxfordshire, and retail and leisure group Pillar Property Investments involves adding extra seats and covered areas to the existing stadium.

A 10,000-seat high-tech arena would be joined to the stadium and would include hospitality suites and food outlets.

Other facilities would include leisure, shopping and hotel developments, a public square and a footbridge linking the Richard Dunn Sport Centre to the arena complex.

The Odsal Dome Company's covered arena plan will include either a turfed sports field or a hard-deck events floor.

It proposes a range of leisure and commercial facilities including a multiplex cinema, family entertainment centres, nightclubs, casinos, a health and leisure club, a convention and exhibition space, meeting rooms, and a hotel complex.

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