£3.6m to transform vacant Smithfield site for 2022 Games
IT will cost the city council £3.6 million to prepare the Smithfield site in Birmingham to host events at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, it has been revealed.
And the money will have to be borrowed – though council bosses insisted that the area would have been subject to redevelopment regardless.
The Smithfield site is set to host the 3x3 basketball, 3x3 wheelchair basketball and beach volleyball events for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, with the site requiring extensive work to prepare in time.
Long term, it will be subject of a major £1.9 billion redevelopment by the council, with plans to create a new urban quarter with more than 2,000 new homes and a market.
With the Games fast approaching, opposition councillor Matt Bennett (Con, Edgbaston) asked what the cost would be to convert the site.
He was told: “It is estimated that the required works will cost approximately £3.6 million, to be funded in the first instance through council borrowing.
“In the absence of the Games, these works would have been undertaken at a later date as a part of the redevelopment scheme, and would be the subject of an application for Enterprise Zone funding.
“The underlying costs will continue to form a part of the forthcoming Enterprise Zone funding application, with the additional interest costs incurred as a result of the acceleration of these works agreed to be fully funded by the Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee.
“The Commonwealth Games will generate a significant economic benefit for Birmingham, enhance the city’s image and provide a lasting legacy to the benefit of all Birmingham citizens.”