OLYMPIC BRUM "COULDN'T ORGANISE DUCK RACE"

14-12-2006

Critics are warning that Birmingham has blown its chance of becoming a host city for one of the countries competing in the swimming events at the Olympics. Barring a miracle of timing, they say, there simply isn't time to get a bid accepted, and a pool built.

Council officers were forced to admit as much at a meeting yesterday of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Leisure, Sport and Culture - although the local authority's official line continues to parrot the government in claiming that there is huge Olympic dividend to be played for.

Maybe there is - especially if council leader Mike Whitby's policy of cosying up to the Chinese yields results. Let's hope it does. But as far as swimming is concerned - and with it the legacy of an Olympic sized pool in Brum - then time is running out.

The city is hoping to host the 2011 National School Games and then wants to use the same facilities by becoming the base for at least one of the Olympic nations.

Unfortunately no one has identified where the cash is coming from. Birmingham has about half the money itself, but no clear indication of where the rest might come from. Given the long lead times - first to submit all the paperwork then to actually build the darn thing - it's looking increasingly unlikely that it will happen.

It's still not too late - if the process got underway in the early part of next year it would still be possible. One councillor told the Stirrer that the entire project has a 69 month schedule, meaning that the deadline for 2012 is only months away.

Cllr Penny Holbrook commented that the city would be “hard-pressed to hold a duck race” - although her party's record on preserving ordinary non-Olympic swimming pools when they were in power wasn't much to write home about either.

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