Light at the end of the tunnel?

619 days since the Commonwealth Games concluded, it sounds that Birmingham City Council is finally about to publish plans that will ensure they return (almost all of) Perry Park to a condition where it can serve the needs of local communities once again.

The Council has taken the wise decision to transfer responsibility for reinstating Perry Park to - yes - officers who are actually experts in parks.

The new team understands the task they face. They have read the comments from residents, and the 68-page response we submitted to the Council’s public “consultation” last summer. And from what we’ve heard, they have listened and tried hard to resolve as many as possible of the concerns local people have been raising.

Of course, the challenge for the new team is made even harder by Birmingham City Council having filed a Section 114 notice meaning that it is in effect bankrupt, and all expenditure is scrutinised to the penny.

So the new team certainly has its work cut out to reinstate Perry Park, which is in a condition that has continued to deteriorate in the time since the Games concluded, but with less budget available (and costs having risen due to high inflation in the meantime).

In the next couple of blog posts, we’ll take a look at a few of the key issues which we hope the Council’s new plans will address.

But if any local residents are available, the Council will be unveiling its new plans for reinstating Perry Park at an event in Alexander Stadium, between 2pm and 7:30pm on Thursday 18th April.

They will be making information available online, and we’ll provide links once it’s live - and, of course, we’ll share our thoughts once we’ve seen the new plans…