Shahid Malik

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure—indeed, I consider it an honour—to be the Minister responding to this Adjournment debate, as this is your first such debate in your new and deserved role as Speaker. You are responsible for my carrying out an act that I thought was impossible—namely, voting Conservative three times yesterday. But, I believe that it was a price worth paying. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath (Mr. Godsiff) on securing this debate about an issue that I know is important to him, to a number of his constituents and to those living in the area.

I shall provide some background to the redevelopment of Edgbaston cricket ground. I know that my hon. Friend recognises that Edgbaston is one of the key international sporting venues in the west midlands region. The cricket club is considered to be one of the largest of the 18 major county clubs that make up the English domestic cricket structure, and the ground has regularly been used as a test and one-day international venue.

The cricket club estimates that average attendance in 2008 ranged from 1,334 for the Friends Provident trophy to 7,958 for the Twenty20 cup. Test match fixtures average between 12,000 and 17,000 spectators per day, and one-day internationals usually sell out at 21,000 capacity. The club calculates that up to 200,000 spectators visit the stadium per year. It employs 78 full-time staff and a further 20 staff for regular events held at the club, and some 600 temporary staff are employed on each international match day.

The club estimates that the major matches staged in Edgbaston contribute up to £12 million per annum to the local economy. I know that my hon. Friend recognises the value of that to Birmingham in terms of the visitor economy and the prestige of hosting international cricket. However, the club believes that it faces increasing competition in hosting major matches. Historically, test match cricket in England has been held at six locations: the Oval, Lord's, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge, Headingley and Edgbaston. Those venues have been able to rely on the substantial income generated by test match status, but other grounds are now challenging their position.

Against that background, Warwickshire county cricket club needs to redevelop the ground to ensure that it scores highly against the requirements of the England and Wales Cricket Board. The club estimates that major matches account for about 50 per cent. of the income that it generates, and that it is critical to both the city of Birmingham and the future economic stability of the club that it continues to be allocated major matches such as international cricket. Therefore, as my hon. Friend said, the club and its development partner, MCD Regeneration Ltd, made a planning application to Birmingham city council on 11 November 2008 for substantial redevelopment of the cricket ground. The proposals include a new, larger stand, an increase in seating capacity by 4,000 to 25,000, permanent floodlighting, and mixed-use development.

The club considers that mixed-use development is critical to generating sufficient funding to support redevelopment of the stadium. It believes that the proposals would create an estimated 3,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs. Given the current recession, that would give an important boost to the local economy. According to an initial economic impact assessment, the proposal will generate additional gross value-added growth of some £60 million over the next 10 years. The proposal would align with the policies in the west midlands economic strategy for promoting Birmingham and encouraging investment and development to improve its competitiveness and its standing as a global city.

The permanent floodlighting would be in the form of five metal floodlighting columns about 50m high, which would be cranked just below the halfway point at an angle of 50(o) to lean over the stand towards the pitch. They would replace the temporary floodlights erected on the back of heavy goods vehicles. The club believes that the more stringent facility requirements of the cricket board will mean that venues will remain viable only when they can provide high-grade international-standard floodlighting. It makes comparisons with other grounds that already have permanent floodlights, or that have planning permission for such facilities. It considers that it has taken into account the concerns that the inspector raised in dismissing the appeal on its earlier application for permanent floodlights in 2000. My hon. Friend mentioned that as well.

I know that the inspector was concerned about harm to the character and appearance of the area, but I am aware that the club sought to examine afresh possible lighting solutions, and that in terms of design and materials used, it considers the concerns expressed by the inspector to have been adequately addressed. I also know that Birmingham city council commissioned a report from the Institute of Lighting Engineers, which concluded that the scheme was acceptable and that nuisance for residents should be minimised. The club has agreed to a condition restricting use of the floodlights to 15 days per year and to no later than 11 pm.

— from debate entitled “Edgbaston Cricket Ground”

The three speeches/headings immediately before

  1. 1 earlier: Roger Godsiff

    I am grateful to my hon. Friend for those points.

    Will the Minister give an assurance that the five questions put by the 14 local resident and forum groups in their joint letter of 6 June to the Government office for the west midlands will receive a response, as they are all relevant to the decision-making process regarding the application?

    The application is now in the hands of the city council, and in view of the fact that the Warwickshire county cricket club is seeking a preferential loan from the city, I hope that the Conservative-Liberal-controlled council will insist that before any finance is made available, the club engages in meaningful and ongoing discussions with community groups about how to minimise inconvenience caused by the increasing numbers of spectators attending functions and international matches, and most importantly, that the five floodlight pylons are retractable, rather than permanent.

    It appears that a local councillor has already attended a meeting that was held by the council leader on Monday, at which he is alleged to have said that he—the council leader—voted against permanent floodlights when he was a member of the planning committee in 2000. It also appears that assurances were given at that meeting that any loan would be conditional upon further "consultations", as the note says. However, it is not stated with whom those consultations will take place.

    Above all, nothing appears to have been said at the meeting about the council's position on permanent or retractable lights. I strongly believe that there is a basic pre-requisite for any loan to be conditional upon retractable lights at Edgbaston. When the Department's inspector considered the appeal by the cricket club to erect four permanent floodlight pylons in 2000, he was scathing in his objections. He stated in paragraph 25 of his report:

    "My conclusion is that the proposal would result in substantial harm to the character and appearance of the area".

    In paragraph 27, he said that

    "their proximity to residential dwellings would be unacceptably dominating for local residents—many houses would become substantially less pleasant places in which to live."

    Most importantly, in paragraph 40 of his report, he states:

    "PPG 24 which deals with noise from recreational and sporting activities requires that the enjoyment of the participants should be balanced against the nuisance to other people."

    He concludes:

    "This I have done, and I find permanent lights to be unacceptable."

    I assure the Minister that the rest of the report was equally scathing.

    Warwickshire county cricket club, in the planning application that it has now submitted, says that it has considered

    "retractable floodlight columns which would retract to a height of 25 m when not in use."

    However, it then says, according to the council report, that the technology is unproven for cricket's requirements and goes on to suggest, amazingly, that lights at a height of 25 m would be more obtrusive than lights at 50 m. The club finally ends by saying that unless permission were given for permanently erected floodlights, which it proposes, Edgbaston would lose its test status. That is totally untrue and misleading.

    We all know that the home of cricket is Lord's, and the ECB operates from there. Lord's has installed four retractable floodlights, which rise to a height of 48 m when fully erected and are lowered to a height of 29 m when not in use. They take approximately 20 minutes to erect. Furthermore, at the Oval, where the president of Surrey cricket club is the former Prime Minister Sir John Major, retractable lights have also been installed. The company that installed both sets of lights is Abacus Lighting, and it has also installed similar retractable floodlights at other sporting venues throughout the world. In a trade magazine article, its head of marketing, Kelly Herrick, makes a potent point:

    "Our new patented telescopic masts proved the perfect solution to overcome the strict planning regulations set out by the local authority. The ground is set in a densely residential area so both the design and lighting overspill had to take in to consideration how the local residents could be affected."

    That is exactly the situation at Edgbaston.

    Of course, it is more expensive to install retractable floodlights rather than permanent ones, but I put it to the Minister that, if the home of cricket can have retractable floodlights to preserve the attractiveness of St. John's Wood for the people who live there, why is the same consideration not to be given to the people of Balsall Heath and Moseley? If Warwickshire county cricket club were to refuse to make those reasonable concessions, many people living in the area would say that the council should not make any loan available to the club; and I, for one, would totally agree.

  2. 2 earlier: John Bercow

    Order.

  3. 3 earlier: Lynne Jones

    It is not quite correct to say that the previous application was called in, because the council did not determine the application, so it went to appeal. That is how it found its way to the inspector's desk. However, the council said that

    "had it been able to decide the application, it would have refused it on grounds that it would have adversely affected the amenities of occupiers of dwellings in the vicinity by reason of noise and disturbance, visual impact, light pollution and glare from floodlighting, and traffic and parking congestion."

    The inspector who decided the appeal dismissed it, agreeing with many of the council's objections. That raises the question why the council approved the current application so quickly.

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