End of the road for Wheels park after 40 years of motor racing
AFTER 40 years, the chequered flag was raised for the final time at Birmingham’s biggest motor racing venue at the weekend.
A multi-million pound regeneration award for the Birmingham Wheels Park site has left bosses near broken.
Birmingham City Council have earmarked the area for development and will use £17.14m government cash for the project.
The money was awarded last week just days before Birmingham Wheels bosses were forced to vacate the land, which has hosted motor racing for four decades.
The revelation rubbed salt into the wounds of racing bosses who have fought a long battle to remain at the Bordesley Green site.
Mark Bond, managing director of Birmingham Wheels Park and Friends of Birmingham Wheels, told the Post he was horrified and shocked at the award.
He said: “After 40 years of being here, we think it’s deeply tragic that this is happening. It’s the biggest leisure and sport area in Birmingham, size-wise, and hundreds of thousands of young people use it every year.
“There is a massive concern about street racing and this park has done more to combat street racing than anyone else. It will be chaos on the streets and we’re all about reaching out to a young demographic that’s difficult to reach.”
But he added defiantly: “This won’t be the end of us. We will be continually pushing for Birmingham Wheels to reopen. The Friends of Birmingham Wheels will be continuing the fight.”
City council bosses initially planned to take back control of the land in January 2020 for redevelopment to begin. But the Wheels were given a stay of execution and allowed to stay until the end of October while the hunt for another location went on.
That hunt has proven fruitless, and now the time has come for the gates to be shut for good.
A spokesperson for the authority said the council would continue to work with Birmingham Wheels to find an alternative venue.