Timing of grants a potential threat to York's new community stadium

8:32am Monday 8th February 2010

By Mark Stead

POTENTIAL ways of helping to meet the cost of York’s new community stadium may be flagged offside because of timescales.

The team behind the project to create a new base for York City and York City Knights said the option of building the arena at one of the clubs’ current homes – Bootham Crescent or Huntington Stadium – had not been ruled out, although the list of possible sites remained under wraps.

A report going before City of York Council shortly said health and education organisations had been consulted about playing a role in the stadium’s development – but while community sports facilities were needed, there was “no support” for an athletics track inside the ground.

Project manager Tim Atkins said the scheme – the cost of which, depending on its scale, could range from £8.1 million to £32 million – was “on track” and funding from regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, Sport England and sport’s national governing bodies, as well as from Europe, could be available.

But he said the point when these funds would be available did not currently tally with the expected development of the scheme, although commercial cash could be crucial.

“It is currently too early in the project to either make bids or secure funding,” he said.

“Many of the potential funds identified run to specific timeframes which do not align with the current timetable.

“The feasibility work has identified an opportunity to lever-in significant funds from commercial development.

“This may provide the funding required to deliver the stadium, the wider community benefits and the future of the city’s professional sports clubs.”

The report warns that failing to submit a viable application for City’s £2 million Football Foundation loan to be turned into a grant by May 2012 – meaning a robust plan for the stadium must be in place – could “seriously jeopardise” the club’s future.

Mr Atkins said the “starting point” of the ongoing search for a site was to assess whether either Bootham Crescent or Huntington Stadium was suitable, but each ground had “considerable constraints and funding limitations”.

He said that since York had few sites large enough to house all the stadium’s potential community facilities, the option of switching some aspects – such as athletics and some outdoor sports – to a different location was a “fallback position”, although this was “less desirable”.