£50m Odsal development would have had 'numerous benefits for city'

This was some of the feedback from Government on one of the city’s Levelling Up Fund bids, which – despite being hailed as a “relatively strong bid” – was rejected earlier this year.

In January Bradford Council was informed that all four Levelling Up bids it made in the second round of the Government funding programme had been rejected.

As well as the Odsal bid, the other schemes included a refurbishment for Bingley Pool and an improved market space for the town, an advanced robotics training centre for Keighley and upgrade of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, and a bid to create three wellbeing hubs in Bradford East.

The rejection of all four schemes led to a back and forth between local politicians. Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley, and Robbie Moore, Conservative MP for Keighley, blamed Bradford Council for the bids failures, criticising the quality of the proposals.

But Bradford Council’s leader Susan Hinchcliffe maintained that they had been quality bids, and pointed out that, after the announcement had already been made, a Government minister revealed any areas successful in the first round of bids in 2021 were unlikely to get cash in the second round.

Bradford had been awarded £20m for a new leisure facility at Squire Lane in 2021.

This week the Government released its feedback on the four unsuccessful bids in Bradford.

Here is a section of comments for each of the bids.

Odsal Stadium (£50m bid)

"This was a relatively strong bid.

“The bid to redevelop Odsal Stadium was good and it was evident from the application that there had been considerable research on the redevelopment and with potentially relevant stakeholders.

“The support from the council and other stakeholders was clear and the project would have numerous benefits for the city.

“The application presented a good case for investment, supported by credible evidence as to how the bid would address the identified barriers/challenge, and clear justification as to why government investment was required had been provided. Alternative options were not sufficiently detailed within the application; this would have been beneficial.

“The application and project were reliant on securing a significant amount of match funding in order for the project to be delivered fully, whilst some potential funding options were described, the application could have been stronger if timescales for securing this alternative funding had been set out in more detail in the project plan.”

Enhancing Keighley’s engineering, manufacturing, and economic role in the region (£19.8m)

"This was a relatively strong bid. However, there were some key areas that could be strengthened such as the “Economic Case” section.

“The application had clear strengths in respect of the strategic case for investment with good overall demonstration of evidence in meeting this assessment criteria.

“The proposal set out how the scheme delivered against a wide range of relevant local, regional, and national domestic priorities.

“The proposal would have been strengthened with some further tangible examples of how it would contribute towards Net Zero ambitions.

“Planning permission for each of the three components of this bid was required which could pose delays to delivery.”

An artist's impression of the planned Advenced Robotics Centre in Keighley (Image: Bradford Council)

Revitalising Bingley (£14.4m)

"This was a reasonable bid.

"The applicant demonstrated overwhelming support from residents and stakeholders, and how the project aligned with local economic strategies. The proposed interventions would help improve the local economy and the health and wellbeing of its residents, and this had been demonstrated within the bid.

"There were certain aspects of the bid that could have benefitted from more consideration and detail, such as conducting a wider and deeper range of stakeholder engagement and further explanation of the synergy with other local investment, but overall, the application demonstrated clear strengths in respect of the strategic case for investment.”

Referring to the economic case, the Government added: “The rationale for intervention was weak, with the interventions being unrealistic in the attempt to solve the problems.”

BE Healthy (£19.9m)

"This was a relatively strong bid. The application had clear strengths in respect of the strategic case for investment.

“The application presented a good articulation of the local challenges and conditions the proposal was responding to, using relevant socio-economic data.

“Whilst the key factors in determining the proposed package of interventions were set out and were clear, the application would have been strengthened by an explanation of the different options considered. The application presented good evidence of the strong local partnerships in place.”

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning & Transport, said: “The feedback from government officers confirms what we said all along, which is that the bids were strong enough to be considered for funding.

“Ultimately however they didn’t succeed because government ministers changed the rules without telling anyone. This meant no matter how good our bids were, Bradford district projects were always going to lose out, just as the many other bids in the 18 from West Yorkshire authorities lost out. These projects remain important to us and we’re looking at other ways we can deliver them.”

Referring to the Bingley bid feedback, Shipley MP Philip Davies said: “Help is being made available to Bradford Council and it must make full use of it to ensure this bid is watertight so it can be resubmitted and considered in the next round of funding. Government has made it clear to me that it understands the need for investment in Bingley and I want to see this happen.

"It is now up to Bradford Council to address the failings specified in the report and provide the information so we can secure this funding from government to benefit my constituents.”