Bradford Live: Robbie Moore MP on 'shroud of secrecy'

Back in December 2023, Council leaders promised us that Bradford Live would be an exciting transformation “breathing life” into an iconic local landmark.

Nine months and £43.75 million of taxpayer funding later, the venue remains lifeless and the entire project is now mired in controversy.

Bradford Live’s general manager has left his role without a replacement, the NEC Group has distanced itself from the project, and it now appears from Land Registry searches that despite previous suggestions to the contrary, no formal lease exists between Bradford Live and the NEC Group.

Bradford Council is, yet again, making national news for all the wrong reasons.

Robbie Moore MP has spoken out over Bradford Live Throughout this saga, we have had near-total silence from our leaders in Bradford.

Within City Hall, Bradford Council’s planning representative Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw – himself a director of Bradford Live – has refused to elaborate on plans for the venue, whilst Bradford Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe has repeatedly stonewalled local journalists.

So much for a politics back in the “service of working people”.

And beyond Bradford Live’s shroud of secrecy, or the national media attention, or the latest new and damning revelations about the project, it is important to contrast this unfolding catastrophe with the reality faced by local people across the district.

Because whilst Bradford Council spends £43.75m of public money on Bradford Live, they will soon be forcing even more extra costs on residents.

A general view of the Odeon and Alhambra in 2003 Under the Council’s new parking proposals, for example, hardworking small business owners in my constituency will soon be asked to foot an £80 bill for a business permit, workers will be forced to pay £250 to park outside their place of work, and some residents will even be forced to pay £35 just to park outside their own homes.

I would urge residents to sign my petition against these proposals at https://www.robbiemoore.org.uk/parkingpetition.

And whilst the Council says it wants to prioritise “transformational” initiatives in the city centre, it fails to maintain basic services across the wider district, reviewing local library services, reviewing local leisure services, and closing two Household Waste and Recycling Centres in my constituency - all to save a fraction of the cost of Bradford Live.

In essence, Bradford Live is becoming a multi-million-pound symbol of Council mismanagement.

Bradford City Hall (Image: T&A Camera Club)

It has exposed not only Bradford Council’s complete inability to manage large-scale projects, but its failure to properly prioritise the statutory services residents deserve.

Following the Council’s Children’s Services scandal and now the ongoing Bradford Live fiasco, it is clear that something has to change

And that starts with proper accountability.

In 2020, when reports emerged over the mismanaged refurbishment of a music venue in Croydon, external auditors issued Croydon Council with a Report in the Public Interest (RIPI) which investigated failings with the Council’s financial, governance, and legal arrangements surrounding the refurbishment. The report found widespread mismanagement and led to auditors imposing seven statutory requirements on the Council.

The venue became a symbol of Council mismanagement, with the report concluding that on a wider level: “There has been collective corporate blindness to both the seriousness of the financial position and the urgency with which actions needed to be taken.

"For a number of years the Council focused on improvements in service delivery without sufficient attention to controlling the related overspends; investing in the Place area without addressing whether the investment delivered the intended outcomes.”

A RIPI is one of the most serious external reports that a Council can receive and in my view, there is now a clear-cut case for similar action with regard to Bradford Live. The similarities are too stark to ignore.  

Because my constituents across Keighley, Ilkley, Silsden and the Worth Valley deserve answers now, and if Bradford Council’s leaders cannot be open and honest about the situation, then it’s time to step in and hold them accountable.