A new report says the Commonwealth Games were a financial success. The city’s bank balance says otherwise.
A new report says the Commonwealth Games were a financial success. The city’s bank balance says otherwise.
Dear readers — welcome to your Monday briefing.
We hope our absence over the long Easter weekend didn’t spoil last Monday for you too much. It’s certainly good to be back, with a jam-packed schedule of stories lined up for the weeks ahead.
First though, a quick recap. Our weekend read was about an iconic 1964 documentary illuminating the lives of the West Indian citizens who lived in Birmingham. The Colony was a groundbreaking film made for the BBC, but its director, Philip Donnellan, wasn’t exactly in the executives' good books...
We had some great responses as ever. Leila Rasheed thanked us for bringing it to her attention and said she “wouldn’t have known about it otherwise”. Irene said: “Well, that is my viewing for this week sorted”. We’re happy to help!
Today’s Big Story looks at the economic impact of 2022’s Commonwealth Games. Newly released data suggests the games were a huge success — but if you’re thinking that doesn’t quite chime with the current state of Birmingham’s bank account, you’re not alone. In your media picks this week there’s national praise for yet another new Brummie restaurant (what we lack in municipal solvency we make up for with delicious dinners, at least) and the controversial accents in Birmingham-set TV drama This Town. As for things to do, there’s a plethora of interesting events happening this week from a mediaeval musical performance to a Shakesperan chorus of nuns. Get those tickets booked ASAP.
Finally, a little update on numbers. We are incredibly proud to have reached 589 paying members since we turned on paid subscriptions in December! It’s wonderful to have made a big stride in such a short space of time. If you haven’t already, help us hit the big 600 by joining us today and you’ll get access to all of our stories, our future events and join the conversation in the comments. Have a great week.
Weather
🌬️ Tuesday: A continuation of the weekend’s bookending weather means more gusts and scattered rain. Max 11°C.
🌧️ Wednesday: Less gale-force gusts but still a stiff breeze. Rain on and off all day. Max 13°C.
☁️ Thursday: A return to the usual helping of constant cloud cover with not much else. Max 19°C.
🌞 Friday: An uplifting end to the week with sun from midday onwards. Max 18°C.
🌦️ Weekend: Saturday starts off sunnier and drier with some scattered showers into Sunday. Max 18°C.
We get our weather from the Met Office.
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Big story: A new report says the Commonwealth Games were a financial success. The city’s bank balance says otherwise
Top line: The Birmingham Commonwealth Games was a financial hit, so says this newly-published report. But in a city where the coffers aren’t exactly overflowing at the moment, not everyone feels so positive.
And we’re off: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has just published a report finding the Games to be a big success. It says the event delivered “sizeable economic benefits for the city, region and wider UK” and established new, progressive standards to ensure future games deliver social value, are carbon neutral and inclusive. Tedious jargon aside, here’s the headline figure: £1.2 billion raised for the UK economy.
That’s right. The evaluation also found that half of that £1.2bn was generated in the West Midlands. It also reports that £79.5m of social value (including non-financial benefits like improved wellbeing and so on) was created. Other listed benefits include:
The new Sandwell Aquatics Centre
The development of the Alexander Stadium
New infrastructure, including housing and transport improvements within Perry Barr
Ghost town: The good people of Perry Barr may be a little surprised to hear housing in their area has improved as a result of the Games. The scrapped ‘Athletes Village’ that was initially supposed to accommodate visiting competitors, instead became a development of 968 new apartments for locals, 312 of which were promised at affordable rates. But when the first homes were put on the market last year, mortgage lenders disputed Birmingham City Council’s valuations, with some buyers forced to pull out.
Election campaign fodder: But that hasn’t stopped Andy Street from singing the Games’ praises. He jumped on Twitter/X to celebrate the evaluation and promised more “major events” if he is re-elected as mayor next month. He wants to find funding for the West Midlands Velodrome and create more opportunities for grassroots cricket in the region, among other ventures.
Hamstring injury: But some reactions from the public have been bittersweet. Also on Twitter/X, urban planning enthusiast @jordanbhx said that while the Games were a “huge success”, the event had “hamstrung the Council’s capacity”, as it is now run by commissioners imposing huge cuts. He said: “The games brought £1.2bn to the UK economy but govt has now hung Bham out to dry.”
Called out by Caller: Just before the government appointed him lead commissioner of Birmingham City Council last year, Max Caller told the BBC’s Today programme the event was a “challenge too far” and the focus should instead have been on facing up to serious problems the authority had been facing for several years. He said that troubled councils “just need to focus on getting better, rather than trying to do nice new things.”
Out of the race? And it seems that other potential host cities aren’t convinced of the economic benefits, with the location of the next Commonwealth Games still up in the air. Australia has pulled out as a potential host because it couldn’t find the funds. Singapore and Malaysia have also since declined to bid for the opportunity. Online Today suggests the main reason countries are reluctant is to do with increased costs post-Covid, plus the event has lost some of its sheen due to its colonial ties and lack of newer sports.
Bottom line: Hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course. But many Brummies are struggling to understand why the city played host to an extravagant event only to be plunged into economic gloom a year later. The evaluation report certainly paints a pretty financial picture – but not one that will be recognisable to many living here today.
Photo of the week
The Dispatch’s Dan Cave snapped this Grand Central skyline on Saturday evening as he waited to catch a bus out of town. With Saturday very Spring-like, it's (hopefully) emblematic of better days ahead.
Brum in brief
Hours to complete, minutes to destroy: A council contractor has apologised after removing a mural of late poet, actor and activist Benjamin Zephaniah in Hockley. Construction company, Kier, painted over the artwork despite the fact The Benjamin Zephaniah Family Legacy said they had received assurances from the council that it would be protected. They said they plan to petition the city council to have it installed somewhere more prominent. “This mural was a carefully constructed piece of art that took hours to complete and probably just minutes to destroy,” Tippa Naphtali, Zephaniah’s brother, said. Full story.
Solihull Moors fans are riding a high after their team made it to the May 11 FA Trophy finals following their 2-1 win against Bromley on Saturday. Dean Smith, from Solihull's supporters association described the atmosphere at the weekend as “absolutely incredible” with fans singing and jumping around – even some of the injured off-duty players got involved. “We’re all in dreamland,” Smith added.
Theatre school expansion: BIMM University, which has a campus in Digbeth, has undergone a £2.1m expansion which includes a new studio theatre, new dance studios, and the ability to host audiences of up to 120 people. It’s said the renovations will enable students to get training in Birmingham without having to go to London. Performers College head of school Adam Davenport said: “[It] will complement the city’s thriving arts scene.”
Home of the week
This bright three-bedroom home in Ladywood is filled with light and has a huge garden. It’s also close to the Edgbaston Reservoir and a community park. It’s available for £300,000.
Media picks
🍽️ With yet another Michelin star under our belt as of February, Birmingham’s reputation for first class food is strong as ever. Already boasting Tropea, Harborne Kitchen, and The Plough, Harborne in particular is establishing itself as a foodie destination de jour. The spotlight has now landed on newcomer to the High Street, Cuubo. The Observer’s hard-to-please critic Jay Rayner recently graced the eatery with his presence, with this sparkling review the result.
🗣️There’s been a bit of upset around accent authenticity in Steven Knight’s This Town. The Birmingham and Coventry set drama all about Two-tone in the 1980s, has been the talk of the, well, town, and has been well received by critics. But some viewers are less than pleased about pronunciation – one even said the show “proves once again that people can’t do our accent”. Perhaps there’s an opportunity here for an enterprising local voice coach to meet the demand for Birmingham accent training? After decades of being made fun of, has our moment finally arrived?
Things to do
Tuesday
🎶 It’s not often that Midlanders get a midweek helping of Medieval music but this is exactly what’s on offer with music Ypotryll. They play at St. Mary’s Guildhall in Coventry this week, interweaving performance, singing and conversation. More here.
🎭 From Tuesday until the 20th April, a new play from the one-time artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre tells the story of a tyrannous musician who takes on his young bride. Expect singing nuns. Book via The Rep.
Wednesday
🎭 A play? In a pub?! That sounds alright to us at The Dispatch. On Wednesday, a new musical about starting afresh and the difficult nature of making decisions comes to The Old Joint Stock. Tickets here.
🎹 For fans of wild piano playing, you can catch performances of Fauré, Prokofiev, and Berlioz, performed by the CBSO, on Wednesday lunchtime. Tickets start at £26.
Thursday
🎨 For those who haven’t caught it yet, there are still a couple of weeks to get down to the Ikon Gallery to catch Midlands-based British-Jamaican artist Exodus Crook’s show on self, religion and enlightenment. All the details on the gallery’s site.
🕺 If you want to catch Strictly’s Graziano Di Prima then head down to the Wolverhampton Grand on Thursday evening for his first ever solo show. It’s billed as an autobiographical interpretation of the dancer’s rags-to-riches life. Tickets here.
Correction: An earlier version of this article suggested that @jordanbhx thought the Commonwealth Games was shortsighted but this is not the case. The copy has been edited to correct this.
I’m not here to comment on whether or not the Commonwealth Games were good or bad for anybody, but Figure 2 presumably lifted from the DCMS report itself is moderately alarming, in that it’s the wrong kind of graph to depict the data it’s supposed to be depicting — since the bars on the right include the numbers of the bars on the left, they shouldn’t be three separate bars in a bar chart, because that’s a misleading indication of the data. Other possible ways in which the data could have been presented could include three separate bars not being included in each other’s numbers, or a stacked bar chart similarly, or a tree map similarly.
Geeky and pedantic a complaint as it might seem, it’s this kind of manipulation of data — whether by accident or design — which is partly responsible for some of the appalling decisions made by political and civic leaders local and national over the years; it’s alarming that somebody in DCMS, plus a chain of people signing it off, published the data in a misleading format.
The survey refers throughout to Greater Manchester?