Odeon set to transfer to council

THE Odeon building could finally be transferred to Bradford Council if its executive agrees the funding package offered by the Home and Communities Agency.

A report into the deal to sell the Odeon and the Tyrls buildings for £1 each with £3.52m of funding attached so the Council can progress its plans for the city centre will go before an executive meeting next week.

The executive will also be asked to agree the process to assess expressions of interest for commercially viable developments which retain all or part of the former Odeon.

Council leader Coun David Green said: “This funding coupled with £4.4m from the Regional Growth Fund programme to deal with the Tyrls site means we can now compete the transformation of the city centre.

 “Once the Council and The Stewardship Committee for the region has approved the deal, council officers will work with HCA to commence the legal transfer of both sites.”

Earlier this month, the HCA Board agreed to provide funding of £1.32m for the former Odeon and £2.2m for the Tyrls building.

The Odeon closed in July 2000 and was bought by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward in 2003, which later entered into a development agreement with Langtree Artisan.

That agreement, which would have involved the demolition of the building, was scrapped after the HCA took over the Odeon site following the abolition of Yorkshire Forward.