There quite rightly is anger and alarm at the revelation that a decision to spend £110,000 of council taxpayers' cash on a new feasibility study of the Odsal stadium site and its landfill tip has been taken without any reference to a public forum.

It may well be that the expenditure, which is the Council's contribution to the £300,000 cost of the survey also being funded by developers Sterling Capitol and other interested parties, is essential to progress the development at Odsal (although it would be fair to ask what has happened to previous feasibility studies?).

What is, perhaps, particularly surprising about this latest row is that Bradford South Labour MP Gerry Sutcliffe and the leader of the Labour group on Bradford Council, Councillor Ian Greenwood, have both attacked the secrecy involved in the making of this decision and yet Councillor Dave Green, a leading Labour member of the Council, was one of three politicians who decided to nod this through.

The fact is that the Odsal Stadium saga has rumbled on to an almost farcical degree for far too many years and far too much of its history has been shrouded in secrecy.

As the comments of senior Labour politicians show, it is not good enough for elected Council members, even if they together represent all the major parties, to take closed-door decisions which involve council taxpayers' money.

Government changes in the organisation and structure of local authorities were designed to bring about greater accountability and openness. It's about time Bradford Council took note.