Budget warning for 2022 Games
City admits financial pressures could be crippling
THE council ‘face challenges’ in delivering the Commonwealth Games athletes village within budget, it has been revealed.
After ranking the risk to the funding of the village as ‘high’ in a recent audit report, the council has now admitted that the scheme has shown ‘financial pressures compared with approved budgets’.
But it added that ‘substantial progress’ was currently being made on reducing the financial pressure, with work continuing to bring the scheme within budget.
Due to host 6,500 athletes for the duration of the 11-day Commonwealth Games event in 2022, the site has been undergoing preparation for several months now with planning permission granted shortly before approved budgets. Substantial progress on reducing the financial pressure has already been made and further work is under way to reduce future risk.
“With more than two years to go until the Village needs to be handed over to the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games, we continue to work with our Games partners to develop a range of options to mitigate the impacts of these pressures and ensure the project is successfully delivered.
“This includes some possible changes to the configuration of the village in terms of the layout of some of the plots but the intention remains to deliver the required number of bed spaces for the Commonwealth Games.”
He added: “We are delighted to have already secured £165 million of support from the government for the village and associated transport works and a further £20 million from the WMCA as part of the budget for this scheme and the council is also looking at what opportunities may be available to secure additional financial resources to ensure core costs are funded and to ensure there is an appropriate level of contingency within the budget.
“Updates on the position of the project will be presented to the council’s Cabinet as appropriate in due course.”