Plans to build 2012 olympic swimming pool

13th Oct 2009

Host­ing major swim­ming events became more of a dream than a real­ity for Birm­ing­ham, as the dead­line to pro­vide the funds for the 50 metre swim­ming pool proved too soon for Birm­ing­ham City Council.

There was also doubt whether the Aquatic and Leisure Cen­tre in Lady­wood would be built by 2012 to coin­cide with the Lon­don Olympics, but there will be the finances for Sparkhill Baths and Strech­ford Arcades.

The coun­cil cab­i­net has announced that only half of the £100 mil­lion has been found to fund the project.

The coun­cil had hoped the swim­ming pool would be ben­e­fi­cial in pro­mot­ing exer­cise and would have trained local aspir­ing ath­letes.  It would also pro­vide another leisure cen­tre for the local community.

How­ever Mike Whitby, leader of Birm­ing­ham City Coun­cil, told the Birm­ing­ham Mail the coun­cil is still hope­ful that the project will go ahead.  He said: ‘It is def­i­nitely our ambi­tion to build a sport­ing facil­ity that will include the capac­ity to swim 50 metres at an inter­na­tional level.’

Sources close to the project claim that the time limit is no longer vital. A report will also be con­sid­ered by the gov­ern­ment on 12^th Octo­ber to find a way to progress with the project and one week later plan­ning issues will be addressed. Var­i­ous Amer­i­can and Jamaican ath­let­ics teams will still be train­ing locally.