Conservative leader William Hague has urged Bradford Council to redevelop the home of the Bradford Bulls.

Visiting the district to talk to local Conservative councillors in the run-up to local elections, Mr Hague yesterday took time out to visit Odsal Stadium which has been the subject of multi-million pound development schemes for five years.

Flanked by his private secretary and former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe, Mr Hague chatted to Bulls players and was presented with a rugby shirt.

He said redevelopment was important for the team and the area and blamed setbacks on Council "incompetence".

He said: "The team is obviously a great success and is doing really well. The project to redevelop this area has now been going on for years. It's clear it has been unresolved because of the developers chosen by the Council."

Bradford Council is currently in talks with Horsforth-based Sterling Capitol - which was involved in the development of Sunderland Football Club's Stadium of Light - to create a prestigious 30,000-seat arena, after previous schemes for a Superdome and leisure facilities collapsed.

But Council leader Ian Greenwood (Lab, Little Horton) yesterday said plans were going well. "The relationship with the club is the best it has been in years," he said. "It's ongoing and we are hopeful that we have got a stadium deserving for the Bulls to play in at Odsal."

Leader of Bradford Council's Liberal Democrats, Jeanette Sunderland (Idle), said the Council had to make up its mind what to do with the stadium. "There's no real clarity of vision of what the Council wants to do with it," she said.

Talking after Mr Hague's visit, chief executive of Bradford Bulls, Abi Ekoku, said he was confident the team would move out of the current structure within the coming year.

He said: "Negotiations have gone very well with the Council and have been extremely productive."

He added that Odsal was a gateway to the city and a new stadium would act as a catalyst for regeneration in the city.

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