Plan for shipping container leisure site in Birmingham near 2022 Games venue

A park comprised of 14 steel shipping containers is set to host screenings of sports as well as films in Birmingham.

The park is due to be created in Walsall Road, Perry Barr, about a mile down the road from Commonwealth Games venue the Alexander Stadium.

Eventually, following the 2022 event, a total of 86 containers would be used for leisure, commercial purposes and house a children's playground.

The park would operate for seven years before it is turned into housing.

The housing is part of a bigger Perry Barr 2040 Masterplan, which will see £700m spent on thousands of new homes and the wider regeneration of the local area, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Other features of the container park include tables for people to sit and watch big screens and parking spaces for 10 vehicles and 16 bicycles.

The site is where the athletes' village was supposed to be, before it was scrapped in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Instead, student accommodation at the universities of Birmingham and Warwick will be used to house competitors, as well as the National Exhibition Centre.

Phase one of the leisure site is set to see 14 containers installed before the games that start on 28 July - the other 72 will be added after the event.

The children's playground would feature in phase two, as well as a marketing suite and an external stage with a maximum capacity of 1,500 people. 

Plans will be discussed on Thursday at a Birmingham City Council planning committee meeting.

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