A leisure park - financed by £11.5 million of largely public money - has been sold to a multi-million pound development company for the knock-down price of about £1 million.

Transperience Discovery Park, in Low Moor, Bradford, which attracted an £8.3 million Department of Environment grant, was yesterday sold by administrators Coopers & Lybrand.

The buyer is Ogden Properties Ltd, of Boston Spa, which has been involved with developments such as Centre 27 which includes the Showcase Cinema, in Birstall.

The company would not say what its plans are for the 16-acre site.

The deal is for land and buildings and excludes any of vehicles or other assets on the site.

David Sheard, chairman of the West Yorkshire Transport Trust, which ran Transperience, said: "It is a bitter disappointment. For more than a decade people have worked to make the park a success and look at what happens. It has all fallen through."

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe said: "I will be pressing for an urgent meeting with Ogden's to see what intentions it has for the site. The company seems to have made a decision to ignore the spirit of what we were trying to achieve here."

John Sully, who was the first chairman of West Yorkshire Transport Trust, said: "It's a great shame that the site is finally going to be sold to this company.

"It's a sad day for Yorkshire. This was a chance for Bradford to show off its great transport history and all that has been lost now.

"I doubt very much that Ogden Properties have any interest in the museum and to them it's just a piece of land."

Councillor Stanley King, who was on the Bradford Corporation Transport Committee when the vehicles were running, said: "It is a real shame as there is a lot of equipment on the site and the old tramway.

"It is a very poor outcome for the people of Bradford.

"Such hard work has gone into preserving those vehicles and keeping them in order."

Ogden property director Tim Garnett said: "We have been negotiating for a while with administrators Coopers & Lybrand. We will reveal our plans for the site when the time comes."

Administrator Owen Claxton, of Coopers & Lybrand would not reveal the actual price paid by Ogden's - which is believed to be just under £1 million - but said it was an "excellent price".

He added: "The deal would not cover all the debts, but came close."

He said contracts had been exchanged, Ogden's had a good business record and could possibly create new jobs in the area.

Transperience Discovery Park, which officially opened in July 1995, was funded by the Department of the Environment grant, £1 million from the former West Yorkshire County Council and from the sale of the Ludlam Street depot in Bradford.

WHAT NOW FOR THE COLLECTION?

Further talks were today being sought with administrators Coopers & Lybrand by supporters of the Telegraph & Argus Save Our Classic Buses Campaign.

The sale of the site excludes the historic vehicle collection.

West Yorkshire Transport Trust, which ran Transperience, has four months to take up an option to lease part of the Low Moor site for a transport museum. It is hoped it can use the time to raise enough money to buy the vehicles.

But trust chairman David Sheard today said the amount of land on offer was too small to be viable.

"Now our main aim is to ensure that the collection stays together in West Yorkshire," he said.

The administrators have also offered to speak to the trust and to Keighley Bus Museum which has offered a safe haven for the collection.

Campaigner Graham Mitchell said he was encouraged by the offer of talks.

President of British Bus Preservation Group Nick Larkin said: "Of all the collections that we thought were safe it was this one. But we will offer our support and hope the collection remains in West Yorkshire."

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