STATEMENT REGARDING ODSAL SPORTING VILLAGE
To read or listen to media reports arising from the leaked report that goes before Bradford Council's Executive next Tuesday, 30 March 2010, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Odsal Sports Village is an ex-OSV, as dead as Monty Python's famous parrot. But that is not the case. Not the case at all.
The Odsal Sports Village partners - Bradford Council, Bradford College, Bradford Bulls, the University of Bradford, Yorkshire Forward and the Bradford & Airedale NHS Trust - are precisely where we expected to be in the process at this point in time.
The leaked Report to the Council's Executive explains that the OSV, in the form of the so-called £75m ‘compliant' scheme, could still be delivered - but only if it becomes developer-led.
In other words, to be delivered in its ‘compliant' form that provides everything that each of the partners wants the OSV project needs private sector involvement a) to bring additional up-front funding to the scheme and b) to shoulder some of the financial risk. That was always likely to be the case and is no surprise at all.
The Report goes on to outline half a dozen scaled-down versions of the compliant scheme that might be built without the private sector, ranging in cost between £20 million and £40 million or so. That kind of money buys a lot of stadium and sports and leisure, educational and other facilities through which to deliver massive benefits for people right across the Bradford district.
Phil Barker, Bradford Council's Assistant Director Leisure Services and the Council's lead officer on the OSV told BBC Radio Leeds this week that the Council and its partners are not at the stage of having to consider those less costly options just yet.
He's still hopeful that the original scheme is do-able, albeit perhaps on a longer time-scale than originally envisaged.
Interviewed on Radio Leeds Mr Barker said: "I think we have to look at all options if I'm honest, but I think some of the options are not going to deliver all of the partners' ambitions.
"Therefore we'll have to see whether we move to any of those, but at the moment I think we are still trying to put together a project which delivers the outputs that all the partners want and is in the region of the compliant scheme outputs.
"Whether it costs us £75m that's a different thing, but if we can deliver what the partners want, deliver all of the outputs, the space they need for all of the groups they're trying to provide service for, then I think that's where we're going at this moment in time".
The Odsal Sports Village remains on course and a further update will be given following the 30 March Executive.
but we could at least get an unbiased view of proceedings. I would put myself down as a maybe. It is my half day but I would have to get childcare at fairly short notice
