After months of disgruntlement and behind-the-scenes authorized battles, Birchfield Harriers has damaged its silence over its battle to entry amenities on the Alexander Stadium.
Derek Redmond, the Birchfield vice-president and former UK 400m record-holder, instructed ITV Information Central that Birmingham Metropolis Council is attempting to “kill” the legacy of the 2022 Commonwealth Video games.
The row centres on utilization of the Alexander Stadium, with Birchfield claiming they’re unable to take pleasure in the identical entry that they had previous to the Commonwealth Video games going down 17 months in the past.
The membership factors to a 125-year “floor settlement” that was signed in 1975 once they moved out of their previous stadium in Perry Barr (which is now a greyhound stadium) and into the Alexander Stadium simply over a mile away.
Birmingham Metropolis Council, nevertheless, argue the settlement is not relevant because of the stadium having modified a lot in the course of the redevelopment forward of the Video games.
Initially, Birchfield had been happy that the Commonwealth Video games had been coming to Birmingham. Negotiations with Birmingham Metropolis Council had been additionally seen to be going effectively till the Covid pandemic struck in 2020.
Entry to the stadium quickly grew to become troublesome and Birmingham Metropolis Council started to query the membership’s long-standing “floor settlement”.
Throughout the redevelopment of Alexander Stadium the membership needed to practice at Wyndley monitor in Sutton Coldfield, with competitions held at Wyndley and Nuneaton earlier than ultimately returning to make use of the principle monitor in April 2023.
Nonetheless, membership officers are indignant that they’ll solely use the amenities, which embrace their membership workplace, throughout sure hours on membership nights.
Alexander Stadium (Getty)
The membership has seen its membership decimated – though it’s now recovering – with an estimated £100,000 misplaced in membership and coaching charges plus earnings from staging occasions.
Birmingham Metropolis Council has additionally spent £89,000 on authorized charges regarding the row, with Birchfield claiming they’ve spent £100,000 thus far. This comes at a time when the council has declared itself to be in “monetary misery” this winter.
The membership is three years away from its a hundred and fiftieth anniversary and its members embrace greater than 100 Olympians. Associated to this, Birchfield additionally declare council officers had been disinterested in an thought to create an historic heritage space within the stadium.
Redmond instructed ITV: “They [Birmingham City Council] are literally driving athletes away as a result of if this was me now and we had been on this state of affairs, I’d suppose ‘do I need to be at Birchfield?’
“There’s a legacy up to some extent and abruptly now Birmingham Metropolis Council appear to need to kill that legacy. They need to appear to place a lid on it.
“You already know, there are some issues that I’ve been listening to that Birmingham Metropolis Council are preventing towards Birchfield Harriers for the rights to be right here and to make use of the amenities which are right here.”
Derek Redmond (Mark Shearman)
AW contacted Birchfield a number of occasions in 2023 concerning the concern however the membership was reluctant to speak concerning the issues. For one, Birmingham Metropolis Council insisted on confidentiality throughout negotiations. Additionally, the membership was eager for it to not escalate right into a public row.
One membership official from Birchfield instructed AW: “It ought to actually be known as a scandal. Birchfield have been very cautious thus far. Maybe too affected person. Now we have been too occupied attempting to maintain the membership going and attempting to rebuild our numbers.”
A Birmingham Metropolis Council spokesperson stated: “The redevelopment of the Alexander Stadium right into a state-of-the-art £72 million world-class venue means there was a must overview the licence preparations that had been initially agreed with Birchfield Harriers in 1975, which utilized to a totally totally different stadium.
“As a publicly funded physique, the council has an obligation to make sure worth for cash and that we maximise the use and neighborhood advantage of this new facility. As such we have now been in discussions with the membership about how we greatest accommodate their wants and others wishing to utilise the venue.
Birchfield Harriers (Mark Shearman)
“These ongoing discussions are based mostly on the prevailing peppercorn lease phrases being maintained on the charges agreed again in 1975, so in actuality the usage of the brand new amenities will signify a greater cost-benefit end result for the membership.
“We sit up for reaching an settlement that allows Birchfield Harriers to learn from the brand new and enhanced amenities on provide inside this context of reaching a wider neighborhood good.”
In latest weeks the probability of the 2026 European Athletics Championships being staged at Alexander Stadium has additionally been thrown into doubt though West Midlands Mixed Authority has now dedicated further funding to allow it to go forward.
» Subscribe to AW journal right here
