We got any hot shot commercial lawyers lurking about? What I want to know is why can't the Council, given the way the city appears to have been shafted so far, take the necessary steps to CPO the land? I doubt the price of land in Bradford centre would come out at £80m. They should then do what I said in the first place and resurrect the original Forster Square as a new improves (and extended) fine pedestrian square of the sort which so enhance so many superb cities across Europe.

Now that does look good, the only problem is the council would want to knock down the old PO building as an eyesore given their track record to date

So they should it blocks the Cathedral and was plonked in the wrong place, .

Bradford City Centre has been on the decline for a long time and this debarcle tippifies Bradford Counciol mismanagement for me, years behind every other city over redevelopment, too much infighting to make a decision results in the City nose diving... now Bradford has a big hole in the ground begging for redevelopment a city centre that rivals Baghdad and is just as friendly.

Im glad its not (now) my hard earned money that may be at risk due to mismanagement by the council/Westfield. cant see positives on this for a long time..

Quote: "Yorkshire Forward displayed a lack of confidence in the project back in 2002, when it refused to back the scheme, citing worries over its viability.'" www.accessmylibrary.com/article- ... adway.html 2002? Some mistake, surely? It's not that it was flawed from the outset, it's only failing because of the recession.

Quote: "Yorkshire Forward displayed a lack of confidence in the project back in 2002, when it refused to back the scheme, citing worries over its viability.'" www.accessmylibrary.com/article- ... adway.html 2002? Some mistake, surely? It's not that it was flawed from the outset, it's only failing because of the recession.

2002????????

WTF????

It gets better.

Can't get full access to this articvle but note the last lineThe council also this week decided to grant consent to Broadway, despite reservations about the scheme's design, in order to meet a deadline for [pounds sterling]10m of European ... '"

I've heard this complaint before but the old PO building is a lovely piece of architecture and complements the run of buildings into the bottom of Little Germany beautifully. Whereas the Cathedral is - well, about as uninspiring a "cathedral" as there probably is, anywhere. I've seen many better village churches. As a pride of place feature it would be embarassing. You could argue that they should knock it down as it blocks the view of Paper Hall.

I suspect the £10m was ERDF funding to put in the utilities/change the roads/pay for demolition to make way for the the Broadway development. I'm surprised that cash hasn't been clawed back TBH given that the Broadway development hasn't materialised. If it wasn't going to happen then in theory the council would run the risk of having to pay back the grant money.

The whole thing is an absolute disgrace. What can we, the people of Bradford, do about this? Write to our MPs? Contact the council? It won't do any good I shouldn't imagine, but it won't do any harm. Don't hold your breath though. I contacted the council about the Odsal scheme about a year ago, they have still not got back to me. So for anyone who wants to tryBradford North Member for this constituency Mr Terry Rooney Party Labour Website Member for this constituency Mr Gerry Sutcliffe Party Labour Website Member for this constituency Mr Marsha Singh Party Labour Email Mr Marsha Singh cannot be contacted by email from this website. Telephone House of Commons Switchboard: 020 7219 3000. Please ask for the office of Mr Marsha Singh. Letter Mr Marsha Singh, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA This site: findyourmp.parliament.uk/ to find them and email them. Here to find and contact your councillor: www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc/contact ... ouncillor/ Go on everyone, fire off a quick email.

The whole thing is an absolute disgrace. What can we, the people of Bradford, do about this? Write to our MPs? Contact the council? It won't do any good I shouldn't imagine, but it won't do any harm. Don't hold your breath though. I contacted the council about the Odsal scheme about a year ago, they have still not got back to me. So for anyone who wants to tryBradford North Member for this constituency Mr Terry Rooney Party Labour Website Member for this constituency Mr Gerry Sutcliffe Party Labour Website Member for this constituency Mr Marsha Singh Party Labour Email Mr Marsha Singh cannot be contacted by email from this website. Telephone House of Commons Switchboard: 020 7219 3000. Please ask for the office of Mr Marsha Singh. Letter Mr Marsha Singh, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA This site: findyourmp.parliament.uk/ to find them and email them. Here to find and contact your councillor: www.bradford.gov.uk/bmdc/contact ... ouncillor/ Go on everyone, fire off a quick email.

Incredibly craven response from the T&A today, I thought.

I've no problems with the council chasing European money or other funding, I've done plenty of it & am doing so now. However there is no excuse for the contract with Westfield not having damages clauses for a breach of contract for delay &/or non-performance. It is in every standard construction contract. There is also the option for a bond(effectively an insurance the contractor pays to guarantee completion). I remember Rooney or Sutcliffe lambasting the council for these omissions. My view, as someone whose job it is to do this sort of thing for a living, is that the clauses were probably removed from the contract as an incentive to the contractor (or at their insistence). I would be sacked if I took such a gamble. In the current climate only a complete idiot would not have such clauses included.

And there we have the crux of the problem.

After all this timeand the site still being a big, embarassing blot in the city, I'd seriously expect Westfield are on the verge of trying to move out, or are going t!ts up, so to speak.

If, that does mean there's scope for us to move into there, or we are indeed agreeing to move down there, what does that mean for Odsal, and the many years of tradition we're possibly leaving behind?

No way under the sun will there be a stadium built down there.

Thank God, for starters, I'd hesitate a guess at saying that area (the Westfield site), is simply too small the accomodate the plans the board presented to us at the fans forum. I see no reason why we should be turning our attention and efforts to move out of our proper home and moving into the city centre.