Community Stadium “set up” costs hit £3.9 million

Over £963,000 spent to date on new athletics facilities at the University

The City of York Council has spent £3.875 million since 2008 trying to get the new Community Stadium off the ground.

Of this, £2.1 million has already been spent on project costs.

As expected the bill for the new athletics facility at the University is set to top £1 million.

Most of the expenditure has been capitalised – meaning that it may be deducted from the £15 million Section 106 monies already paid to the Council by the developers of the adjacent Vanguard development.

Still the figures are a matter of concern as no building works have actually yet started and a final contract decision is not now due to be made until January 2016.

The figures – revealed in a response to a Freedom of Information request – include £506,168 spent on “Interim training/match facilities” The precise make up of this expenditure has not yet been provided.

The information has been released at a time when one of the core tenants for the community facilities being provided at Monks Cross has withdrawn. St John’s say that their new sports development on Haxby Road – where the Knight Rugby Team now train – meets al their sporting needs.

The Council have remained tight lipped about how much rental they hope to gain, from the lease of community facilities sapce, to organisations like the NHS and the Libraries social enterprise company.

Without this income the running costs of the stadium could fall on taxpayers.

Knights Rugby in Foxwood on Thursday

York Community Stadium clears another hurdle… survey boost for Knights fans

The York Planning Committee has today approved the latest plans to build a Community Stadium at Huntington.

The decision comes 5 years after an agreement was reached on how a new stadium could be funded.

The decision was expected following a recommendation for Council officials that the plans should be approved. Outline planning permission had been granted in 2012 and the full Council had, last October, accepted a new financial package which included the provision of more retail floor-space.

The new plans did, however, lead to the closure of Waterworld with the future of the Yearsley pool also placed in jeopardy.

There were surprisingly few objections from other retailers to the new plans while concerns about traffic and parking arrangements were also muted.

The plans will now be put to the Secretary of State. He could decide to “call in” the plans. With the present Parliament due to be dissolved on Monday prior to the General Election, it is likely to be June before any decision on the referral is made.

History may record that the most difficult times for the project have yet to come.

A deal with rugby is essential if the stadium asset is to be fully exploited (and business plan income achieved). There were also some awkward conditions imposed in the original planning application which have yet to be satisfied.

A solution to the Yearsley pool issue will be one of the first issues on the new Councils agenda when it too meets for the first time in June.

Then there is the ambitious 12 month building timetable. As we have said before, we doubt if a stadium could be completed for the start of the 2016 football season; but we hope we are proved to be wrong.

The less complicated project plan – agreed 5 years ago – would have been implemented by now.

We would have a stadium with both football and rugby being played there.

It remains to be seen whether the delays have been worthwhile.

Boost for Knights

In a survey undertaken by Liberal Democrats on thee west of the City residents were asked whether they agreed with following statement

” The Council should ensure that the Knights rugby team are able play matches at the new community stadium”

70% agreed
10% disagreed
20% were undecided.

Sporting Memories links with York City Knights

York City Knights RLFC is the latest partner to join City of York Council and the Sporting Memories Network in an initiative to help increase awareness of dementia in the community.

York’s rugby league fans are being encouraged to support the project by sharing their memories at the York City Knights’ ‘End of an Era’ game on Sunday 7 September at 3pm, officially their final league game of the season and their last at Huntington Stadium.
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Stadium will cost Council Taxpayers £1 million a year.

Huntington project administration costs hit £6 million

More details of the changes to the Huntington Community Stadium project have emerged. The papers reveal the administration and project team costs for the project have increased from £3.5 million to £6 million.

The Council will borrow a total of £8 million, meaning that local taxpayers will have to find £720,000 a year in debt charges. In addition the Council will contribute £323,000 towards the annual running costs.

The report talks about a developer paying £12 million for land on which to construct 6000 square metres of retail and commercial space.

This space would be used for

Retail units totalling 4245 sq m
Two restaurants totalling 110 sq m
A digital cinema with bar totalling 1652 sq m

There are numerous risks identified for the project.

The land was originally acquired by the Ryedale Council for leisure purposes. There may be at least a chance that the original owners will seek a share of any enhanced value resulting from commercial development.

Equally the inclusion of – yet more – out of City centre retail development will be controversial.

This is the issue most likely to delay the granting of planning permission and could result in the application being “called in” by central government. In turn, this would impact on the target start (April 2015) and completion (July 2016) dates.

The Council don’t rule out a Judicial Review – a process initiated by opponents of change and which added, in the last decade, nearly 2 years to the timetable for modernising the Barbican auditorium.

A 15 month construction commissioning timetable looks highly ambitious anyway.

Less obvious risks may arise. Not least the ubiquitous Great Crested Newts who mounted a strong resistance to being evicted from the neighbouring John Lewis site.

The report confirms that

GLL will be responsible for the overall management of the site and the direct management of the Community Hub, leisure facilities and associated assets. This will be controlled by an overarching lease and management contract for a 13 year period with a 5 year extension option.

As part of the procurement process, GLL have appointed York City Football Club (YCFC) as a sub-contractor to operate the stadium area. YCFC will work with CGC (York Racecourse hospitality company).

The proposal will involve changes to the existing parking and access arrangements. This will see the re-routing of Kathryn Avenue around the stadium, creating a pedestrian only and fan zone, strengthening links with the Vanguard retail scheme

The report also says that “All community hub tenants will enter into lease agreements with CYC for the use of the facilities. All leases have been set at appropriate commercial rates”.

The report includes a table showing how costs have increased over the last couple of years

Component	Approved March 2012(£Ms)	Approved Nov 2012(£Ms)	Proposed Sept 2014(£Ms)
Community Stadium	14.2	14.8	16
Leisure Complex	0	0	12
External works	1.5	1.45	3
NSLC sub total	15.7	15.25	31
Other facilities / Project costs & contingencies	3.5	3.95	6
Total	19.2	19.2	37
Commercial Development Costs (externally funded)	–	–	10
Gross Total Cost	19.2	19.2	47

Knavesmire sports pavilion slips 12 months….Community Stadium update

New pavilion design

The ambitious plans to provide a replacement pavilion on the little Knavesmire for the Hamilton Panthers football team looks like being delayed.

The York Council has set aside £350,000 to part fund the £600,000 project. But it seems that funding from Sport England has been delayed.

The project which will see a new clubhouse and changing rooms built on the site of an old ROC World War II building was given planning permission in 2012.

At that time it was hoped that the new facility would be available for use in early 2014, but this now seems unlikely

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The Council is also saying that the new Community Stadium – which will be built on the site of the existing Huntington Stadium – will cost £1.85 million this year.

The total cost is now put at £18.6 million

It is unclear how the council intends to recover it’s investment (now thought to be around £4 million) or whether it includes the capitalised salaries of those who are working on the project.

It is understood that formal bids for the construction of the stadium will be considered in January, with the hope that construction will be completed in 2016.

The project is running 2 years behind schedule.