Salford council urged to reveal total cost of rugby stadium deal

Salford City Council has been urged to share the total cost of its deal to buy the city's community stadium.

The council wrapped up a deal to buy the stadium earlier this month, to buy out the remaining half owned by Peel. The stadium is home to Salford Red Devils and Sale Sharks rugby clubs, and the council's deal has been seen as a lifeline for Salford Reds as it could open up opportunities for the club to keep more money it earns on match days.

Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett told the Local Democracy Reporting Service in February that the overall cost of the purchase could be around £2 million, as well as around £30 million of debt owed by the stadium company CosCos.

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But Salford Conservatives leader Robin Garrido has claimed the cost will be much higher, and that it has been kept secret from Salford residents. When Salford City Council's cabinet approved the decision to buy the stadium earlier this month, some of the details of the deal were discussed behind closed doors in part two of a report.

The council said part two of the report contained "financial and commercially confidential information about the council, a council company and a private company."

It added that sharing the information "may prevent or prejudice the deal taking place."

Mr Garrido, who has seen this part of the report but is not allowed to share it, said buying the stadium is set to cost the council "millions of pounds over the next few years," and warned that residents could be forced to pay more in council tax to fund it.

He added: "We're extremely disappointed that the council has not listened to our arguments. The main worry is the cost to the council