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Only two contenders are left in the running to operate Calderdale’s major sports stadium – and it is likely to take the council another six months to make a choice.
The future of Halifax’s Shay Stadium, home to the town’s two professional sports clubs, football’s FC Halifax Town and rugby league’s Halifax Panthers, has been in limbo for two and a half years.
And the major decision is unlikely to be taken by the council’s Cabinet until 2027, while senior councillors weigh up the merits of two different visions for its future.
Both have advantages but also potential impacts on the council that need careful consideration, senior councillors heard.
An overhead view of the Shay Stadium, Halifax, where a new pitch and drainage has been laid. Picture: Calderdale Council
One would require council cash support for a first year, for example, while the other’s commercial plans including a hotel would have implications for the value of the estate.
Calderdale Council’s new Reform UK administration, who opposed a since-collapsed deal proposed by the previous Labour administration to sell The Shay to Huddersfield Giants rugby league club owner Ken Davy, won control of the authority from Labour in May’s local elections and had hoped to settle The Shay’s future by the October Cabinet meeting.
Leader of the Council, Coun Dan Sutherland, said: “It’s difficult that we weren’t able to make a decision today, but we’re still on the path towards doing so, it’s just going to take a little bit more work for us to make sure we get this right.
“And I think the key thing to consider is how do we get this right so it lasts and sticks for a 100 years, not just what might seem right if we were making a rush decision, which would not be wise.”
Coun Sutherland (Reform UK, Illingworth and Mixenden) said it was important to emphasise the Cabinet’s ongoing commitment to The Shay and the professional sports played there.
Senior councillors heard Coun Peter Hunt, Cabinet member for Public Services, outline the two options being taken forward.
Coun Hunt (Reform UK, Elland) said the proposal from Halifax Women’s Football Club was not being taken forward after missing a deadline for supplying further information – a fourth proposal had been discounted at the initial stage because of a late submission.
That means the options being taken forward are “very different ideas, each of which had merit,” he said.
The first, headed by Halifax business people Stewart and Beverly Charnock Bates, is for a Community Benefit Society and seeks to acquire a 125-year lease of The Shay under a peppercorn rent, operating as a community benefit society.
Its objective is to secure the long-term future of The Shay through community ownership and management on a not-for-profit basis while maintaining its role as home to professional sport and expanding wider community use, as well as being more commercially focused, said Coun Hunt.
“The society proposes governance through a democratic membership structure regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with an asset lock to ensure that any surpluses are reinvested for community benefit.
“The proposed board structure includes representation from the community, sports clubs, council representatives during a transition period and independent members with commercial, operational and governance expertise,” he said.
The society contends safety and compliance works needed at the stadium could be delivered for around £890,000 during the first 12 months and assumed “mothballing the West Stand – though council surveyors have advised health and safety works would be required whether or not the stand is in use so that saving would not be achieved.
The proposal concludes that community ownership would reduce the council’s long-term financial and maintenance liabilities while creating a financially-sustainable and community-focused operating model.
“However, in the short term the proposal requires the council to cover operating costs within year one of the transfer, while the Community Benefit Society would retain any income.
“This would require revenue budget provision of approximately £750,000, based on previous years’ expenditure – as such, the proposal is predicated on an initial significant capital and revenue contribution from the council before moving to a break-even position,” he told Cabinet colleagues.
The second proposal going forward is that by the Community Stadium Consortium, comprising business people Jas Chatha, Ben Walker and John Coulter, which is seeking a long-term lease with a peppercorn rent to “secure The Shay’s future as a financially-sustainable community stadium and long-term home for professional football and rugby league”, with the consortium emphasising the existing community delivery record of the Halifax Panthers Foundation.
Coun Hunt said the proposal is based on a “dual entity model” comprising a community interest company (CIC) responsible for day-to-day operation and community stewardship, and a private investment company (PIC) to attract and deliver private investment and regeneration opportunities at what would be a “seven-day-a-week destination.”
The consortium states this structure would separate community benefit and operational management from commercial development activity, he said.
“It proposes operating the stadium without ongoing revenue support from the council through enhanced commercial management, increased utilisation of the site and diversified income streams and a programme of planned maintenance and asset management,” said Coun Hunt.
Key elements would include phased regeneration including improvements to the East Stand entrance and facilities, development of a community sports hub, creation of a wellness centre and redevelopment of the West Stand including a hotel and associated commercial uses, the consortium had said, with introduction of community and corporate membership.
But, said Coun Hunt, “the level of commercial development proposed by the Calderdale Community Stadium consortium would have a bearing on the value of the site and an intention to acquire the land on a peppercorn rent may not align with the council’s best value requirements.
“The untested ambitious development plans for the site would suggest that the option could be high risk if unrealised.”
It all means the council and Cabinet has a lot more to weigh up.
To better understand impacts, advice from a specialist on leisure development is likely to be needed.
A production brief for the site is required and likely to take up to six months to produce, said Coun Hunt.
But, he said: “It is beholden on us to get this right.”