While no one really believed that the new Community stadium would be completed by July 2016, it now seems likely that the project will slip by a further 12 months.

There are two problems:

• Building cost inflation has added 20% to the expected bill for the project
• The (correct) decision to keep the Yearsley swimming pool open means the duplicate facility at Monks Cross is no longer viable.

Issues with the Rugby Club also rumble on in the background.

Since 2010, when funding for a replacement stadium was secured, progress has been slow. Essential planning permissions for the enabling development were secured in 2012  but, rather than getting on with building the stadium on the “Chesterfield” model, the then Labour controlled Council decided to outsource all building based leisure facilities (including the Monks Cross complex) as part of a single contract.

This involved a laborious 24 month tendering process which was needed to meet EU regulations.

Ironically it was this delay that appears to have scuppered the deal.

The £12 million available in 2012  for the project would have bought a good quality stadium and to a design which would have guaranteed some non match day income. No taxpayer’s subsidy would have been required although the Council had allocated a £4 million fund which – if drawn down – would have been repaid from stadium income

There was little building activity taking place in 2012 when the country was still in the grips of the recession. Work was scarce so tender prices were keen

In the end GLL were declared the preferred bidder in 2014. GLL had been running the Huntington Stadium, Waterworld and the adjacent fitness facilities for several years.

However they had sought interim subsidies to keep the facilities going. No usage figures for Waterworld were published by the Council at the time although these are now expected to emerge into the pubic arena.

Despite the exiting stadium being abandoned and Waterworld closing last year, financial issues continued.
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