More than £20 million will flow into the West Midlands economy when the Conservative Party holds its annual conference in Birmingham next month, organisers claimed.
The impact comes from hotel bookings and increased trade to restaurants, bars and shops driven by up to 20,000 delegates, lobbyists and international journalists.
A host of statistics was revealed at a briefing held by Marketing Birmingham, West Midlands Police and the ICC.
Up to 800 police officers and 600 ICC staff will be on duty during the four-day conference, which starts on Sunday September 28.
The ICC and the Hyatt Hotel will be cordoned off within a secure ‘island site’ in a police operation codenamed ‘Pelkin II’.
Chief Inspector John Mayne, who is co-ordinating the operation for West Midlands Police, said the intention was to provide “world class policing” for the conference, while ensuring that disruption to the city was kept to an absolute minimum.
Barriers designed to prevent car bomb attacks will be used, and armed police will patrol the area. Access to the conference itself will be via three main access points, each with airport-style security checks. But, he said: “We have no specific intelligence of a threat to the event, and the official intelligence rating is one of low risk.”
A grant of £2.5 million from the Home Office would cover the extra cost of policing, he said, and West Midlands officers would be joined by colleagues from Staffordshire and Dorset, as well as the Ministry of Defence Police Force.
The Devon contingent would bring a boat from their Marine Division to patrol the city’s canals, as they did for the Labour Party Spring Conference held in February.
Despite the tight security operation, and some traffic restrictions on Broad Street, Cambridge Street and Bridge Street, these routes would remain open to pedestrians, Chief Insp Mayne said.
Extensive media facilities – including access for 20 bloggers – will be provided at the ICC.
Marketing Birmingham commercial director Ian Taylor said the city was gearing up to make an impression on the visitors.
“With up to 800 of the world’s press attending,” he said, “this is a really good opportunity to get the right image of Birmingham across to the international media.”
“The event is pretty much broadcast live across all the major channels in the UK,” he said, “and we’re working hard at ensuring that they have some impressive backdrops to their programming.”
Visitors will be given information packs about Birmingham, and advertisement hoardings across the city will carry special messages aimed at delegates.
Nick Waight, managing director of the ICC, said the event would help raise the profile of the venue and the city around the world. “Welcoming 10,000 delegates to Birmingham is fantastic news for us, and we will do everything possible to make it a great success.”
He said the venue’s green credentials and its central location were an essential factor in the Tories’ decision to visit Birmingham this year. “The environment is high on everyone’s agenda, and we’re anticipating that 80 per cent of Conservative Party delegates will attend by using public transport. I don’t believe that has happened anywhere else in the UK.
“Every inch of space in the ICC will be used by the conference and more than 250 fringe events every morning lunch and evening”
A major exhibition of photographs by Sir Benjamin Stone – a Tory MP for Birmingham at the turn of the last century – will be one of the attractions organised by Marketing Birmingham and the city council. The exhibition, which is backed by The Birmingham Post, features acclaimed images taken by the photographic pioneer of the city and Westminster.
