Spend £60m left over on velodrome
DEAR Editor, The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games were by any measure an overwhelming success for the Second City and West Midlands.
Full credit must go to the organising committee and Birmingham City Council for overcoming all the odds stacked against them organising the event including a limited time scale, the Covid epidemic and financial constraints.
The Games did, however, put into sharp focus one significant gap in Birmingham’s portfolio of sporting facilities – a velodrome. Many people will recall the disappointment they felt when they heard the track cycling competition was being staged in London.
What good news it is to hear there was a £60m underspend of the overall budget for the Games which will now be spent within Birmingham and the West Midlands.
The official British Cycling ‘Lower Cost Velodromes’ technical review states an indoor velodrome similar to the Geraint Thomas Velodrome in Newport, South Wales, which has seating for 500 spectators would now cost around £12.5m to build. A basic velodrome without seating can be constructed from as little as £5m.
Not only has this velodrome had an immensely positive impact on Welsh
Cycling but the track centre serves the local community very well by allowing for a wide range of indoor sports and activities to be played. The arena is not just about inspiring gold medals – children as young as two years of age are taught to cycle on balance bikes in a safe, secure and weatherproof environment.
Hopefully a decision will be made to use a modest proportion of the £60m underspend on providing the much needed velodrome and then Birmingham will rightfully be able to proclaim itself as a top rate sporting city.
David Viner, Stourbridge