The home stadium of Salford Red Devils and Sale Sharks rugby clubs is a step closer to being under the full ownership of the local city council. This follows a Salford city council cabinet meeting today which agreed on a ‘statement of strategic intent’ for buying 100 per cent of what would become the City of Salford Community Stadium (CoSCoS).
What is currently the AJ Bell Stadium is jointly owned by the authority and Peel but the land and property giant wants to sell its share. A report from city mayor Paul Dennett to the meeting says that outstanding debt on the stadium currently stands at £37m, but the council has been paid back £11m since it was built and that money is being held back as a 'contingency' in case further work is needed.
But Conservative opposition leader Robin Garrido has objected strongly to the plan and has claimed the city council’s bid for full ownership may be ‘illegal’. He does not sit on the cabinet but attended the meeting as a member of the public. Mr Dennett told the cabinet that the stadium was ‘part of what we are delivering in that part of the city [in Eccles]’.
