What the Council says so far…

Our campaign was highlighted today by local media.

In the Birmingham Live article, you can read about the impact the deteriorating condition of the park, and the ongoing closure of the site, has on local residents - the feelings of people living close to what was a park but has been a fenced-off building site for years.

You can also read the response that the Council provided to Birmingham Live - it’s worth breaking down what it does, and doesn’t, say…

“The Stadium was formally handed back to the City Council at the start of November.”

Note the use of the term “Stadium”. We’re not campaigning about the Alexander Stadium buildings, which sit within Perry Park - we’re talking about the park itself.

And while it’s true that the site was handed back from the Commonwealth Games organisers at the start of November 2022 (bearing in mind that the closing ceremony was way back on 8th August) it’s also true that anyone with a passing interest could see just what a dangerous condition the parkland was in throughout the autumn - the Council had plenty of time to prepare for the condition of the site it was to receive.

“At present, given the success of the Commonwealth Games and the securing of the European Athletics Championships in 2026, with other events in the bidding pipeline, reinstatement works are still ongoing in Perry Park.”

But if the works are “reinstatement” then future events are a separate topic, and they can be planned for while unaffected issues are resolved.

“We have sought to keep pedestrian routes and parkland accessible as far as possible, whilst the reinstatement works take place. However, some areas of the park are currently not fit for public use and therefore have been secured by temporary fencing.”

The first sentence is debatable - for example, the “throws field” itself is in a good condition and there’s no explanation why it has not been opened back up - other than the Council officer’s aim expressed at the public meeting on 25th January to deny the community access to that space and convert it to formal sports pitches.

The second sentence is very true!

“The complexities of the Alexander Stadium project make it not currently possible to confirm when the reinstatement works will conclude.”

Again, we’re not campaigning about the Alexander Stadium - but we would appreciate an indication of whether Perry Park will continue to be out of bounds throughout 2023, into 2024, or who knows how long?

“The local community and stakeholders will receive regular updates on the status of the reinstatement works and associated temporary fencing.”

This is one area (along with completion of the stadium stand rebuild on time) where the Council deserves credit - ahead of the Commonwealth Games, it had an excellent team in place to manage questions from the community - though as soon as the games concluded, that team was disbanded - so we look forward to information becoming available once more.

“In parallel to the reinstatement works being undertaken, the city council is developing proposals for wider improvements to the park, which the local community will be invited to contribute to in due course.”

We appreciate and welcome the intention to develop improvements across the park, and we’re keen to hear how and when members of the local community will be able to give their insight and ideas, but…

We’re not campaigning about wider improvements - we’re talking about the dangerous condition of the park right now, the lack of progress towards fixing it which means the community can only access a small area of the park at all, and the stated intention to break promises and deny the community use of a highly significant area of the park (using that land for formal sports facilities that could be provided elsewhere).

And that’s the particularly interesting thing about the published statement.

Nowhere in the published response does the Council deny the aim to break the Leader of the Council’s promise that “there will be no impact on the footprint of the park”.

Nowhere in the published response does the Council say that the community will be guaranteed free access to the whole of the park.

Which means our campaign must continue to work hard until we have clear answers - and with luck, promises that are actually kept.

Please help us to obtain those clear answers by signing out petition!