Hood should threaten to move the 'Northern Bulls' out of Bradford! I believe Calderdale Council would welcome a premier sporting team and the additional revenue and kudos it would bring.

Perhaps then, and only then will we get any movement from the muppets who claim to be running Bradford

Why should Bradford council help the Bulls?

There is only one argument for why - because success for the Bulls rubs off on the city as a whole. And, in a city that seems to be failing in most areas at the moment and that is rotting from the centre, anything positive about the city must surely be worth saving and supporting?

Other councils have recognised this.

Indeed they have, I think amongst the chattering classes it's called 'the vision thing'. Vision, of course is one thing (amongst many) missing in our (once) fair city.

In preference to libraries, swimming pools, disabled centres, schools, transport?

I can understand why the council have had to pull out of OSV but not sure the spin they've put on it... essentially that it was that or some special needs schools... has been taken in by anyone. Why not just say that due to overspending in the past the nation, as a whole, has had to tighten their belts and they currently have had to focus their resources elsewhere rather trying to blame the mean Tory government.

A local council not supporting a local team financially is hardly something that only Bradford Council are guilty of. When LUFC wanted a load to buy back Elland Road a few years ago Leeds council were unwilling to sanction it.

On a positive note, the board seem to have the desire and confidence to push on alone in some shape or form so hopefully someone else will back them financially. The council, despite withdrawing their financial support for the village, still also seem to want to help the Bulls in some other way of possible, although how much of that is them blowing smoke up our ar*es is yet to be seen.

Sod 'em. Let's do it ourselves and when they try and jump on the Bulls bandwagon the next time we have any success we'll tell them to shove it!

Not in preference to, as well as - Please don't believe the hype, council funding has been cut by 3% in real terms from 2007 levels and we were all partying like it was 1999 then! The response from local authorities has been lazy and about as creative as my 5 year old, waste needs to be tackled not front line services lost, but that would take some real kahunas, so libraries nobody uses close instead.

I merely want Bradford Council to contribute what they committed to contribute to the development and help get it moving, just like Wakefield MBC giving the Tigers £2m to kick start your stadium, hmm I wonder how many Disabled Centres that closed?

Other councils with, whats that word, oh yes 'vision' and effective leadership have recognised that successful sports clubs playing in decent facilities attract investment, simples. Moreover, now is the time to do it too with money relatively cheap to borrow, actually with inflation at 5% it's nearly free

You could probably build OSV for getting on 50% less than 3 years ago.

Leeds City Council made the choice, when they elected to provide a rent-free lease to Harvey Nicks (IIRC), to attract the wives of the NHS mandarins when Leeds was after the NHS HQ, or when they chose to target investment at the previously-dilapidated gateways to the city to make the place look a load better to potential inward investees. They could, instead, have spent that money on the things you listed. But they saw the bigger picture. Had teh "vision" that Bulliac described.

The best way to help pay for all those things you list is by increasing the wealth of the city by attracting inwards investment. Leeds (aided and abetted by a Tory Government in the 1980s that shot itself in the foot big-time) is an example of a council that understood that. Bradford seemingly never did.

You have to create some wealth to have wealth to spend. Too many people seem to fail to understand that. Wealth up here requires inward investment. Inward investment requires some existing success stories to help convince the investors. Bradford has too few of those. A top-class sporting complex at a key gateway to Bradford, anchored by a successful sporting team (we can hope!) would surely send out a much more powerful positive message to potential investors? Without whom this city is well and truly fecked.

Health & fitness.

Attempting to combat Bradford's higher than national average child obesity levels?