Perry Barr project timeline amid ‘significant financial loss’ to council

Commonwealth Games legacy project timeline amid 'significant financial loss' to council

Alexander Brock - Local Democracy Reporter | Wednesday 15th January 2025 8:46am

Cast your mind back to the moment when Birmingham was named as the host city of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

It was late 2017 and local politicians were excitedly discussing how the sporting event could showcase Brum to the world and create a lasting legacy.

There’s no doubt the Games were a success in many ways, creating jobs, boosting tourism and contributing £1.2 billion to the UK economy.

The highly-praised opening and closing ceremonies, starring a huge mechanical bull and Ozzy Osbourne, also arguably helped shift some outdated attitudes towards Brum.

But a damning report has recently revealed some worrying findings over the major athletes village project, which a former council leader claimed would help rejuvenate Perry Barr and create a “meaningful legacy” back in 2018.

It was originally planned for the village to house thousands of competitors during the Games before being converted to much-needed housing at a later stage. 

But the delivery of the project has proved troublesome for the city council during the following years.

The decision was made to scrap the village back in 2020, with development restrictions during Covid being blamed, and the site and its empty flats still resembled a ghost town as recently as last year.

And now the new report has confirmed this week that the development scheme will make a loss of around £150 million to taxpayers.

Commissioners, previously brought in to oversee the Labour council, described the management of the Perry Barr scheme as “deeply flawed” with “major financial consequences”.

Amid this alarming development, here’s a look at how the Perry Barr athletes village project unfolded and how it ended up in this bleak predicament. 

2017 – Birmingham named as host city

There was a huge sense of optimism and excitement when Birmingham was named as the host city of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in December 2017. 

Ian Ward, then leader of Birmingham City Council, described the announcement as an “early Christmas present” for the city.

“The hard work begins now and we all have just four-and-a-half years to deliver an unforgettable Games that will shape the future of our city, our region and our people,” he said.

The hosting contract required the provision of an athletes village to accommodate around 6,500 competitors and officials.

2018 – Council says Commonwealth Games Village will provide ‘housing legacy’

Just months later, in February 2018, the city council confirmed plans for the Commonwealth Games athletes village.

Councillor Ward said at the time that the development was the largest new-build element of the Games.

“It will help rejuvenate Perry Barr and the wider surrounding area, meaning there will be a meaningful and lasting legacy for the people of Birmingham, in particular those living near the heart of the action in 2022,” he said.

“A major regeneration programme like this will result in some degree of local disruption in the short-term and we recognise that patience will be required, but the long-term gains will far outweigh this.”

Plans were later approved and construction on the project officially began in 2019.

In the report published this week however, the council acknowledged it should have sought to remove the requirement to build an athletes village.

2020 – Athletes village scrapped

Alarm bells began to ring when the decision was made to scrap the Perry Barr athletes village in 2020, with development restrictions during the Covid pandemic being blamed.

“The key physical legacy from Birmingham 2022 is a regenerated Perry Barr – and by working closely with our Games Partners that is absolutely secure going forward,” Coun Ward said.

“The fact we are moving straight to legacy on the residential scheme gives the council and its partners a chance to review the longer-term plans for homes in Perry Barr, to ensure they best meet the needs of local people.”

2024 – Major decisions amid questions over legacy

Four years later and questions still surrounded the project’s future, with the site remaining fenced off and vacant.

The ‘practical completion’ of phase one of the scheme, which consists of 958 homes, took place early in 2024.

Later on in the year, proposals to sell three developed plots to a third-party were approved while recommendations to retain 213 homes for council housing were also given the green light.

Coun Sharon Thompson, deputy leader at the council, said the project could now “deliver better housing choices for local people”.

But Perry Barr councillor Morriam Jan (Liberal Democrats) hit out at the council and told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We haven’t got a legacy.”

2025 – Report revelations 

The report published this week confirmed that the project has resulted in a “significant financial loss to the council”, the costs of which will be “borne over future years”.

In particular, borrowing of around £142-152m is expected to remain unpaid.

“The cost of repaying and servicing this unpaid debt over a 40-year period is expected to be c£8-9m per annum (interest and repayment),” the report said.

Commissioners were very critical, saying professional guidance was not followed in assessing value and that it failed to recognise how long it would take to dispose of each unit, as well as the costs of this delay.

They also said there was ‘magical thinking’ within the council and that risk appears to have been ignored.

“This was a large £0.5bn programme where project governance, reporting and decision making was deeply flawed,” they wrote.

Council deputy leader Coun Sharon Thompson said in response: “The report lays out difficult lessons the organisation needs to learn and we welcome the views and recommendations from the commissioners.

“Birmingham City Council is being transformed, and its governance processes are being strengthened to ensure members get the best professional advice, ensuring these mistakes are not repeated.”

She continued: “We now have the senior leadership team in place to deliver this transformation and are committed to ensuring Birmingham City Council becomes a financially sustainable, well-run council that delivers good services to citizens.

“The Perry Barr residential scheme will still deliver much-needed homes for the north-west of the city, with high-quality homes for rent and sale.

“Crucially, many of these new homes will be affordable homes.

“The recent deal with Legal & General Affordable Homes will ensure double the number of affordable homes set out in the planning application will be provided.”

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