The opening of HS2 could be brought forward to make 2026 a year to remember for Birmingham if the city’s Commonwealth Games bid is successful it has been claimed.

Council deputy leader Ian Ward says that the city will lobby to ensure both HS2 and a new metro tram line from Birmingham city centre to the airport and HS2 interchange is also up and running at the same time.

He said: “I think the current timetable for HS2 is the end of 2026, but with the Commonwealth Games there would be a strong argument for bringing that forward and it is something I can see us as a city pushing for.”

He said that while the city council is staring into a financial black hole and faced with unprecedented cuts over the next few years, circumstances will be different when the Commonwealth Games arrive in 2026.

Councillor Ian Ward
Councillor Ian Ward

The investment in transport, the redevelopment of the city centre, the support of regional development agencies including the West Midlands Combined Authority , the Midlands Engine and Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership all make the bid stack up.

“We are making cuts, but we also have to grow the city, create jobs and if we do that the city council will be in a better position. Look at what the Games did for east Manchester after 2002, we will get housing, through the athletes village, a boost to business and a legacy of sporting facilities.

“There is also an argument after the Brexit vote that as a country we need to look more outwardly to the rest of the world and in that context the Commonwealth becomes more important to us.”