Thursday 20 August 2009

Odeon - we can't leave it to just seven councillors!

I've passed comment on proposals to redevelop the former Odeon before - I'm no proponent of the existing building or the new proposals. But there's a bigger issue - we (and by that I mean Bradford's 90 Councillors) can't just let the seven councillors on the Regulatory & Appeals Committee decide the former Odeon's fate. This is not just a difficult decision but a decision that we all will be held to account for whether we had any part in it or not.

I'm not a lawyer or a constitutionalist but there has to be a way for all of us - at full council - to debate this decision. That must be better than leaving it to a technical committee to make a decision based on technical considerations. Bradford people want to see us discuss this -the time has come to do so!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is a way - the Council could use the airport money to buy the Odeon, by CPO if necessary, which would then put it in the regeneration (ie political) rather than planning (ie quasi-judicial) sphere.

The question is whether it's worth doing. Tory national policy at the next election is hinting towards redistributing power from the regions to localities. That might mean that the Council could end up with the Odeon anyway if Yorkshire Forward gets wound up and its money / assets given to the relevant councils.

Still, it's an option and at the least would leave the development in political hands (in the first instance) as it wouldn't go to planning until there was a suitable scheme ready that people were happy with.

Anonymous said...

how can political, econmice and soic, tech, lagal ,and enviment help odeon as a cimema