FANS SPEAK OF SADNESS AT POTENTIAL LOSS OF THE SPORT

Friday August 11, 2023
BIRMINGHAM Speedway fans went to proud 100-year-old tradition in Birmingham and walked away feeling really sad at the potential loss of speedway in the City as planners push to wipe out the sporting venue to build more than 400 new homes.

Article courtesy of the BIRMINGHAM MAIL

There was a real buzz at Perry Barr’s iconic stadium on Wednesday night - and that was well before the speedway started. The sporting venue, which is also home to greyhound racing in Birmingham, is seriously under threat with developers this week outlining their bold plans to build 427 new homes in its place.

According to property developers Corbally Group, a new housing estate “will vastly improve Perry Barr and deliver real value for the established and emerging community in this location”.

But what about this very community that has been supporting speedway - and the Birmingham Brummies - for the past 100 years? Speedway has been a huge part of the city’s culture for generations and, yet, the sport could be no more in Birmingham. As for greyhound racing, discussions are well underway for the dogs to move from Perry Barr to Wolverhampton.

On a warm, balmy night at the Brummies, though, there were well over 600 fans in attendance. It was the first race meeting of the summer holidays and families were enjoying soaking up the late-evening sunshine and, of course, the thrills of the speedway.

It seemed a perfect alternative to, say, watching Villa or Blues as the Brummies hosted Middlesbrough’s Redcar Bears, with the visitors narrowly winning 46-44. The tunes were pumping and the beer was cold. There was a really good atmosphere down there as the Brummies’ supporters were decked out in their red and yellow colours. Kids were loving life as well with free tattoos and face glitter on offer while mascot Bluey made an appearance.

There were pockets of friends and families enjoying coming together on a midweek evening after a long day at work, or those that were at home all day on their own. Smiling faces were aplenty while fans from Middlesbrough made the 175-mile trip to support the visiting team. All of this, though, would be lost to a new housing estate that will mirror the one just across the road that was built for the Commonwealth Games. The 1,000 apartments there all remain empty.

Brummies fan Derek Ramsdall, 63, from Kingsbury, said it would be a sad day if the Brummies were forced out of Perry Barr. “I’ve been coming to the speedway here since about 1971,” he said. “It’d be a very sad time if this was to go but let’s stay optimistic about it and see what happens. Everything else has shut down but, here in Birmingham, we’ve got to have some sort of motorsport.”

Paul Gallet, from Tamworth, echoed Derek’s sentiments, and said: “It’s happening all over the country and I’m afraid to say that developers have got the upper hand these days. It’s all about the money. It’s sporting facilities all of the time that fall victim [to developments]. It’s because developers can make 10 times as much money from building houses so every minor sport falls victim. Football’s OK, they’ve got enough money to fight them off, but everyone else is under threat.

“I remember the council saying when Hall Green was sold off for development, ‘We only need one [greyhound] stadium so we’ll protect that one in Perry Barr.’ But they let Hall Green go to development and that was making money but that’s gone. This will go so what will be left? You used to have Coventry, Cradley… Wolverhampton’s under threat at the end of the season and, if we go, there won’t be a track left in the Midlands. This area used to be the lifeblood of the sport.”

Paul’s friend Bilbo also commented: “The trouble is if this closes and if you’re a speedway fan and you want to watch speedway, where do you go? Oxford is 70/80 miles away.”

A short wander down the side of the race track and there was an excited 84-year-old Hazel Stonehouse sitting in her camping chair ahead of the first race. Hazel, who has been coming to the speedway in Perry Barr since she was 17, told us: “I’ve read the news about the housing development. It’d be a shame, I’d really miss [speedway]. What about all the houses over the road? We’ve got to keep the speedway here.”

Just prior to the speedway bikes zooming around the track at Perry Barr, I managed to grab a quick word with the man that heads up the Brummies, Nigel Tolley, who admitted he wouldn’t mind moving to the nearby Alexander Stadium should the Brummies become homeless.

He said of the intentions to bulldoze the stadium in Perry Barr: “It’d be absolutely devastating for the Brummies but you’re probably talking about 2028 or 2029 if or when those plans get officially put forward [to the council], so there’s a lot of time.

“I don’t agree with the developers saying that the stadium is underused - just look at it tonight, it’s packed. If we could carry on for another two to three years here, that’d be absolutely fine. We’ve got three or four plans in the pipeline and my job as CEO is to ensure that the Brummies have a future. I’ve got speedway in my blood, I’ve come back after 30 years to put some more life back into speedway. This threat of losing our stadium is a bolt out of the blue.

“We’ve got the Alexander Stadium literally half a mile away from here and we could easily put a track in there. That would be absolutely ideal for us.

“Speedway in Birmingham is a 100-year tradition. You don’t have to go far back to when speedway was the second most-popular spectator sport in the UK. It was above cricket. We’ve got to bring that back and you’ve got to remember this is a designated sports facility… we can’t really lose this without somewhere else to go. We’ll be fighting all the way to keep the speedway in Birmingham.”

Walking out after the thrills and spills of my first night at the speedway with my partner and young daughter, there was no getting away from what a shame it would be for this very venue - and the speedway - to be no more. There’s a community of fans here and, for that reason alone, we must fight to protect the sport here in Birmingham.

As for the council's stance regarding the future of Perry Barr Stadium, a spokesman said: "The city council owns the freehold of the Perry Barr Greyhound Stadium, while the Corbally Group are the long-term leaseholders – so any redevelopment on the site must be agreed with the council as the landowner and through its planning process, in line with local and national policy.

"As previously stated, the leaseholders have launched a pre-application consultation and as such no planning application has been made regarding their proposals for the stadium site."

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