The trials and tribulations of delivering fields of dreams

The modest 8,000-capacity stadium forms part of an ambitious leisure facility that also features a swimming pool, sports hall, cinema, restaurants and shops, and will not now be open until 2018, a year later than scheduled.

While the additional £5.4m that York councillors are being asked to find to complete the project is a considerable sum, it pales compared to the costs involved in delivering Wembley Stadium, which ended up costing £975m, more than double the original £458m budgeted for.

Yet building a new stadium need not be a financial and emotional ordeal, as Rotherham United proved in July 2012 when they played their first game at the superbly-appointed New York Stadium in the town centre.

Built on the site of a former foundry in the new York area of the town, the stadium hosted its first Millers game just 18 months after outlining planning permission for the project was granted.

The 12,000-seater stadium cost £20m to build, a similar figure to the bigger Keepmoat Stadium at nearby Doncaster that was opened five years earlier and which plays home to Doncaster Rovers, Doncaster Belles and the town’s rugby league club.

The £32m construction cost of the Keepmoat Stadium and the surrounding area was met by Doncaster Council, who signed the facility over to the football club on a 99-year lease in 2012.

The most striking new stadium built in Yorkshire in recent years is the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield, a 24,500 capacity all-seater facility that is home to the town’s football and rugby league clubs.

The stadium, which opened in 1994, cost around £40,000 and was co-funded by Kirklees Council and the two sports clubs.

Opening as the Kirklees Stadium, it was named Building of the Year in 1995 by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

In 1995, Middlesbrough turned their back on their spiritual home Ayresome Park to move into the bigger and grander Riverside Stadium, a 30,000 capacity all-seater venue that cost a modest £16m.

Perhaps the county’s grandest new sports venue is the KC Stadium in Hull, another 24,500-capacity stadium that plays host to both football and rugby league.

Hull City and Hull FC took up residence in 2003, a year after the builders moved onto the parkland site at Anlaby to begin work on the £42m project that was largely funded from the proceeds of the city council’s sell off of its stake in Kingston Communications.

Yorkshire’s rugby league clubs have enjoyed less success in delivering new modern facilities of their own, despite a series of announcements by the likes of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Castleford Tigers, both of whom have repeatedly failed to deliver new homes.

Ten years have elapsed since Castleford first announced plans to move into a 13,000-capacity stadium on a £75m development on the site of the old Glasshoughton Colliery, since when a number of revised schemes have been put forward. The latest plan is for work to start this year, with the club hoping to move in for the start of the 2018 season.

Wakefield’s ambitions to leave their home at Belle Vue, which is a shadow of the stadium that featured in the 1963 film This Sporting Life, go back to 1999, since when they have unveiled plans for stadiums at Junction 39 of the M1, on the site of the city’s old power station, at Thornes Park and, more recently, at Junction 30 of the M62.

After almost 20 years in residence at the now demolished Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield Eagles hope to return to the same site in a purpose-built rugby stadium next year at the newly-named Olympic Legacy park.

Sheffield’s stadium forms part of the £90m Olympic Legacy Park project, which also includes an indoor sports facilities, a university technical college and other opportunities for private sector investment.

Here are five of the best new sports stadiums in the UK:

Wembley Stadium, London

The new national stadium is a magnificent edifice, but at almost £1bn it had to be. Sports fans may have initially missed the grubby familiarity of the old Wembley with its twin towers, but Wembley has regained its place in their hearts since opening in March 2007.

Principality Stadium, Cardiff

An architectural masterpiece alongside the River Taff in the heart of Wales’s capital city, the Millennium Stadium opened in 1999 and came in at a ‘bargain’ £121m. The 74,500 capacity venue is unique in the UK with a fully retractable roof, which is helpful given that it’s not unknown for rain to fall in South Wales.

KC Stadium, Hull

Purists may still miss Hull City’s Boothferry Park and The Boulevard home of Hull FC but neither had the majesty of a venue paid for by the local council’s decision to flog off some old white telephone boxes. A terrific atmosphere inside when filled, from the outside it looks like a giant UFO has landed on West Park.

New York Stadium, Rotherham

So it’s unlikely to win any design awards and it may feel like an off-the-shelf facility but the New York Stadium is perfect for Rotherham United’s needs. Modern, clean and comfortable, the New York Stadium is everything that Millmoor wasn’t.

Ricoh Arena, Coventry

The words heard by Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, “Build it, they will come” spring to mind with this £113m, 32,000 capacity stadium and leisure complex, which now hosts Coventry City as tenants of owners Wasps rugby union club, who upped sticks from their spiritual home in north London to make the most of a cracking venue.