A DECISION to provide a £12 million loan to help restore Bradford's Odeon building has been "called in" by an independent councillor.

Bradford Council's decision making Executive board agreed to provide the loan to Bradford Live earlier this month. But now Councillor Adrian Naylor (Ind, Craven) has called for that decision to be discussed further, to allow more councillors to scrutinise the loan and see how it will impact on other council initiatives.

The £20 million Bradford Live project will be run by the NEC group, and see the derelict cinema turned into a 4,000-seat live music venue. Estimates claim it could bring in around 270,000 visitors a year to the city centre.

The loan will come from money the Council borrows from the public loans board, and the plan is for the money to be paid back by the revenue received from the NEC when they take occupancy of the Odeon.

But now Cllr Naylor has called in the decision made by the Executive, it will be discussed by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, made up of councillors from all political parties, on Wednesday.

The committee can agree to move forward with the loan, to refer it back to the Executive with new recommendations made by the scrutiny committee, or to delay the loan plans until the go before a full council meeting, where every member of the council can have their say on the decision.

Cllr Naylor's call in says: "I wish to scrutinise the strategic role the Odeon will play in the regeneration of Bradford and its impact on other Council assets and initiatives.

"I would also like to scrutinise the loan the security for the loan and any implications it may have for state aid together with any further issues which the not for publication papers may give rise to."

The committee meets at 5.30pm in City Hall on Wednesday.