Odsal Redevelopment, Council Finances, Council Services & The Private Sector

I don’t disagree with the “ drive” to matches principle , that why your comment re buses was for me a red herring anyway. Wherever I lived in Bradford, Shipley , Bradford, Stortford etc I would drive TO public transport, use trains or buses direct to the centre and walk from the “centre” . I don’t see any point in clogging up the area surrounding the ground. Always best on foot imho with a 15 min walk , I suggest reasonable , oddly quicker than driving?
With links in Bradford as they are Odsal is not an option imho. I realise I’m a traditionalist but progressive in seeing a sustainable , enjoyable, match day experience. Odsal and it’s surrounds will not offer that package imho. Remember we have seen all this stuff before, I am using history as my guide.
A new stadium in a new location , walkable from the “ centre” is not an unreasonable ask . Odsal could never ever offer that whilst football remains a winter sport. Im safe in the knowledge it won’t happen if history has anything to go by. The funding proposals and income benefits are just absolute pie in the sky fictions of spin .
The cost benefit of filling the hole in and the income that would be provided for the city has completely been ignored. Why, especially as the income would fund a completely new stadia and facilities elsewhere in the City.

T& A piece from 2007
Forget any grand plans for Odsal Stadium
14th December 2007

By Telegraph & Argus
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SIR - We now have local MP Gerry Sutcliffe saying that Odsal is a no-go for development.

When is Bradford Council going to stop these plans of grandeur for Odsal?

Gerry Sutcliffe says Bradford Council is bereft of putting any idea into reality.

This has been the case for a very long time; you only have to look at the city centre.

The only way for Odsal is to leave it alone or use it as a landfill site and use the proceeds to relocate.

A P Thirkill

 

Nail, head hit.

 

I agree with Roger, but he’s saying both grounds are not difficult to get to…..how can you say this hits nail on the head when you’ve said Odsal’s location is not suitable, as per your post I first quoted???????!

 

Walkable from the City centre? Are you joking (or do you not visit the city much anymore?)

What bit of land do you propose is free to build a stadium on anywhere close to the centre, within 15 minutes walk? There aren’t ANY sites suitable for developing, unless you are going to bulldozer Peel Park. There’d be zero point in that.

Odsal needs flattening and building on, not patching up, but, away from that, you are looking even further afield to find areas of land big enough to build a stadium. Look at how crowded the buildings are in Town. Bradford college has developed and there’s no parking, just like everywhere else in the City, and why fans park in Broadway.

And good luck getting permission - look at all the outrage from locals near chain bar at the plans to build a big amazon depot.

Any ground move would have to be AWAY from the landlocked City Centre, otherwise whats the point in moving? Just stay at VP, our spiritual home.

 

Thinking outside the box you have this, The site of the old Royal Mail, and the HMRC office earmarked for closure.



If you were to look at a stadium complex you would have space for a 25k open roof stadium here backing on to foster square train station and bang next door to Broadway with over 1,300 parking spaces, with another multistory a further 5 min walk at the Leisure exchange.

That would bring thousands of people into the City Centre rather than just to the outskirts of the City to disappear back on the motorway 5min after full time.

The cost could be generated by using Odsal either for housing, landfill or some other use.

There is already numerous hotels within walking distance so all these extra pipe dreams need not apply.

It would there actually act as a realistic option to Valley Parade. Most buses into the City end up a 5 min walk from this site.

Instead they as usual put all the eggs in a Wembley of the North fantasy.

 

Re the above just to give an idea of scale, this is the new Brentford FC stadium at scale with the pictured site.

 

Its ideas like this that can truly transform a dying city centre. It creates employment and would be a facility with the potential to see growth like no other. £100 million there would build you something spectacular.

 

Personally i would demolish the retail units to the left of the Hamm Strasse and open the area up.

 

And those same reasons are why it will never happen unfortunately

 

No not joking . Most of the buildings on Valley Rd , Canal Road are tin sheds and can be demolished by one man and a digger. So no, it’s about thinking laterally.

 

Money doesn't seem to be an object in the councils latest grant application however, a solar farm, hotels, multistory car parsk and all that bollocks to boot. Look at how Brentford have squeezed a stadium in the middle of London.

It's not just a case of building the stadium as it stands, there would be need to be movement to road access etc and a whole host of other things, but you know that this hasn't and would never be explored due to the 50 year fantasy of creating a Wembley of the North at Odsal.

 

Sorry I don’t agree with the Odsal bit. Lazy reply

 

As an owner though, where is his asset when only leasing his premises and how would they incrementally increase in any worthwhile value?

 

What would be the point in moving from Valley Road to relocate a few streets away though? what benefit does that bring? I dont think we have the funds to buy buildings and land to develop - there’s nothing sustainable in forking out tens of millions so its not within Rupp’s ethos. And we’ve few external investors interested.

Aren’t we better off just staying put???

 

Agree. And if we’ve five years left on the current ground lease as someone suggested, time is running out for us to get into gear. I think we’ll end up signing a new lease but don’t see how owning VP would improve our promotion chances short term. If anything, it weakens us as we could be taking money out of the pot to repay a hefty loan.

 

If we were based in London might have faith in our council, but history shows they won’t deliver when it comes to a sports stadium here. With the council budget cuts and now energy and cost of living crises, it seems even further away from happening IMO, despite the latest plans which get people excited.

Places like London are in their own bubble due to the tube and rail access, but sadly we don’t have that benefit.