Bookmarked: Councillors sidelined as Headingley Stadium deal rushed through?

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It probably won’t have escaped your notice that a new £35m funding plan for Headingley stadium has been announced by Leeds City Council.

The plan includes a new south stand on the rugby ground and a new joint stand overlooking both the rugby pitch and cricket ground and is aimed at safeguarding international cricket at Headingley for the foreseeable future.

The plans will, of course, affect parts of Burley and Kirkstall which are often brought to a standstill on matchdays by parking problems and traffic congestion.

The Leeds Citizen blog has added his take on ‘seat of the pants’ deal the council’s put together.

He writes:

“In the normal course of council events, such significant deals don’t get taken to senior councillors for approval with so many unknowns. And in the normal course of council events, ordinary councillors can call for such deals to be looked at by a scrutiny board if they’ve got reservations.

“Not in this case.

“Because of the rush, final approval of the terms is being delegated to two senior council officers in consultation with council leader Judith Blake and executive board member Richard Lewis.

“And there’ll be NO opportunity for the deal to be looked at by any scrutiny board.

“Do your run-of-the-mill councillors mind being sidelined like this? Enough to make a fuss about it? As if.”


Read the full Leeds Citizen article here. It’s well worth a read.

   

   
   
   
   

   

   

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