Birmingham Commonwealth Games: Organisers urged to deliver on promises

Organisers of the Commonwealth Games have been urged to fully deliver on promises of leaving a lasting legacy for Birmingham.

People in the city have been told by those behind the event it will create thousands of jobs and accelerate regeneration efforts.

But some community leaders have questioned if everyone will benefit.

"I do not think the legacy will cater much for the inner city," Lincoln Moses, who runs a sports hub, said.

The site he runs, Holford Drive Sports Hub in Perry Barr, will have £500,000 spent on it after the Games by Sport England and the city council.

The work will create a multi-use floodlit area but, while welcoming the investment, Mr Moses said he remained concerned legacy promises would neglect the most vulnerable.

He said: "What is going to be remaining after the Commonwealth Games have gone to be able to help the young people who have nothing to look forward to post-Covid?"

A jobs and skills academy has pledged to train more than 6,000 local people for roles at the Games which begin in six months on 28 July.

The city council has also drawn up plans for a £700m regeneration of Perry Barr by 2040, building on the Games, but plans for the athletes' village in the area fell victim to the pandemic.

Volunteers with Birmingham's Raffa International Development Agency, which provides help for people in Commonwealth countries, say they want to know the promises of the Games will have a lasting impact on the city.

Angela Clarke said the charity wanted to make sure "this is not a one-hit wonder, there has to be sustainability" and wants the event to take Birmingham "to the next level".

With nearly half the population of Perry Barr from African, Caribbean, Indian and Pakistani backgrounds, another volunteer, Patricia Davy, said she wanted to know everybody would benefit.

"Maybe additional training, just additional chances, life chances. Everybody needs a chance," she added.

John Crabtree, chair of the Games, said the Birmingham 2022 team and their partners remained committed to "trying to ensure that the Commonwealth Games leaves lasting benefits for the people of the host city".

The legacy also remains "massively important" to the city council, leader Ian Ward said, "the Games are more than 11 days of sport".

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