Quote: Mrs Barista "Not at all. If you're going to bid on a site, you need to know how much money you'll make before deciding on the level of bid. You can't do that without working up the site plans, estimating "abnormal" build costs, assessing cost of highways reconfiguration if necessary, but importantly understanding the size and configuration of the income-generating commercial units, which, for this project, sounds like a supermarket at least. Your "have a bit of a guess, but get on with giving him the stadium" approach invites precisely the risk, which is a big one, (that I talked about earlier and you conveniently ignored). Allam gets the stadium for nowt and builds the extension to the KC. He then conveniently uncovers land/construction/planning/funding issues down the line which mean he can't build the "Sporting Village" as articulated in the original deal. End product - stadium is in private hands, the council have given away a major asset and the premise for the giveaway never materialises. Often in these sorts of deal, the council would state as part of the arrangement that the Village has to be up and running before the extension to the KC can happen to avoid the obligations being avoided later on when the primary objective of the whole thing, in this case the acquisition of the KC for nothing, has been achieved and the rest can be conveniently parked (as it seems the ice rink and swimming pool already have been).
Ultimately there will be a single proposal and it's the job of both parties to produce the most compelling one on which the public can then vote. The Council have already said several times that a project team is in place to support this process of working with Allam to refine the details and options as you suggest, but have not been presented with any plans yet. They have yielded and are taking a reasonable position. The ball couldn't be any more in Allam's court to deliver a proposal on which to proceed.'"
My experience differs from yours. The first time I saw it in action I was amazed at the lack of detail and assumed it was a one off by a shoddy developer, but it turns out generic costs are certainly the norm at this stage of a proposal. The exception tends to be for competitive bidding and the costs and work involved highlights why it's not done until needed. Had Mr Allam done as you suggest, he'd potentially be millions out of pocket to find out it's a none starter for party political and personality reasons.
As for the rest, you're STILL stuck in the small, offer and accept mindset. It needs more expansive thinkers involved to try to broker the best deal for all. Yes, Mr Allam needs to put more meat on the bones, but rightly or wrongly their seems to have been a clash of personalities involved that prevented more open discussions. What a shame if that kills even the consideration of an opportunity.
As I see it, Mr Allam's sat comfortable and he and his family could sit out their lives without striking another bat. Our representatives in the Council need to find funding to develop Hull and initiate investment to benefit us. The ball sits squarely with the Council. The manner in which the Council are reported to want talks in the media is hardly conducive to encouraging a potential investor. It doesn't put an 'open for business' sign to investors.
