Express & Star comment: Is Commonwealth Games good news for the Black Country and Staffordshire?
Winning the right to hold the Commonwealth Games in 2022 is, obviously, a massive boost for Birmingham.
What is not so clear is whether it is also good news for the Black Country and Staffordshire.
Smethwick is set for a nice new swimming pool, or Aquatics Centre. Walsall could host judo, as the sport’s UK centre of excellence. And Cannock Chase has been suggested as a venue for some cycling events.
No doubt hoteliers are rubbing their hands at the prospect of housing some of the 70-odd teams that will be arriving in the West Midlands in the run-up to the event.
But it is also clear that the main events, such as the athletics, will be taking place at the string of stadiums, sports grounds and exhibition facilities that already exist in Birmingham itself.
Indeed, a main element of Birmingham’s bid is that 95 per cent of the venues are already in place and would simply be re-purposed to accommodate the needs of sports, athletes and spectators attending the Games. Although the plans do include an expansion for the Alexander Stadium – home to the Birchfield Harriers.
A Games on a bit of a budget then. At the same time, Birmingham must see this as an ideal opportunity to kick-start some of its regeneration projects and it is also a perfect platform to promote the city around the world.
Both Manchester and Glasgow have successfully used the Commonwealth Games to rebrand themselves as modern, attractive cities, boosting major regeneration work and attracting millions of extra visitors in the years since they hosted the event.
Birmingham will want the same. We can forget any use of the term ‘West Midlands’ in the huge promotion campaign leading up to Games in 2022.
The interminable row over the name of the combined authority proved areas like Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley, Solihull and Coventry had no wish to be subsumed into a ‘Greater Birmingham’. It had to be the West Midlands Combined Authority. But this won’t be the ‘West Midlands Games’. This will be the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, and no-one will be allowed to forget it.
Birmingham will be determined not to dilute its impact on the world, or share the plaudits with its smaller neighbours. And it will also ensure it gets the greatest benefit. The rest of us will have to make do with a place watching from the sidelines or, at best, a small supporting role.
