Bradford council agrees to press ahead

Specialists will now be appointed to develop the project further.

Jane Glaister, Bradford Council’s strategic director of culture, tourism and sport, told the meeting of the executive there had initially been four options for Odsal, but these were whittled down to two, which “deliver on expectations”.

Of the two options, the £75m one contains a new stadium for Bradford Bulls, a community sports facility with a 25-metre pool, and a 120-bed hotel. It will mean a completely new 18,000 all-seat stadium created by raising the pitch level by 15 metres, 80,000sq ft of sports retail and extra parking.

This was favoured over a £57 million option, which would have seen the existing stadium redeveloped with seats and a cantilevered roof added to the existing east stand.

Councillor Adrian Naylor, the executive member for regeneration, praised the work which had gone into moving the project forward. Council leader Kris Hopkins added: “It’s going to be delivered by 2012 as it will be the year of the London Olympics. Let’s not miss this opportunity.”

Peter Hood, chairman of the Bulls, described the sports village as an opportunity to put Bradford back on the map again.

“It delivers a stadium that’s fit for the 21st century and this will reflect very well on this city,” he said.

Funding levels currently guaranteed totals £19.1m – with Bradford Council earmarking £15m of that from funds released by the sale of Leeds-Bradford Airport – and the remainder from regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

The project’s steering group hopes to bring in £18.5m in commercial retail and sponsorship, £15m in contributions from its primary partners – such as the Bulls, Bradford College, Bradford University, NHS Bradford and Airedale – as well as more from Yorkshire Forward.

A further £14.8m could come from external grant funding, such as the European Regional Development Fund, Sport England, the Football Foundation, and the governing bodies of various sports.