Four-star Old Trafford cricket hotel secures £5m loan
Lancashire County Cricket Club (LCCC) has secured a £5m loan from Greater Manchester's Combined Authority to build a 150-room hotel at Old Trafford.
The four-star development is expected to cost £12m and will replace the site's current 68-bed hotel.
LCCC raised £3m after selling bonds last autumn, but will receive the extra cash if Trafford Council agrees later this month to lend the remaining £4m.
The club is expected to repay the loans on the proposed hotel by 2021.
Trafford Council leader Sean Anstee said, if approved, the hotel could create 76 jobs and contribute £2.3m annually to the Trafford economy.
A council spokeswoman said it would explore options later this month on how it would borrow the £4m loan on behalf on LCCC.
"We would charge a commercial rate of interest on any money that we would lend to the club so there would be a small profit for the authority," Mr Anstee said.
"There's no cost to the Trafford tax-payer. If anything it's a contribution to the revenue budget, which is under some severe pressure."
Mr Anstee added the council was unable to borrow money for everyday services, such as libraries, "because they have a recurring annual cost" but they were allowed to borrow for one-off infrastructure investments.
The combined authority's £5m loan will be from the Greater Manchester Growth and Growing Places Funds.
Mike Blackburn, chair of the Greater Manchester local enterprise partnership, said it would enable LCCC "to compete as an all-round first class sporting, conference and events venue".
LCCC vice chairman David Hodgkiss said the loan "reinforces our position as a leading member of the community for Trafford and Greater Manchester".