The developers of Beetham Tower have been warned they could face legal action after the building's structural problems caused part of the city centre to be closed last week.

Coun Paul Tilsley, deputy leader of Birmingham City Council, has instructed senior officers to study building legislation with a view to charging the developers for traffic problems that followed the closure of part of Smallbrook Queensway.

Coun Tilsley (Lib Dem Sheldon) said the road closures caused problems for city centre users and retailers at a " critical" time of year.

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Parts of Holloway Circus and Smallbrook Queensway were closed after four pieces of metal cladding fell from the side of the 40-storey tower on Thursday. The roads around Birmingham's tallest building were reopened on Saturday.

It is the second time traffic diversions have been set up as a result of problems with the #70 million building. The first happened in February when scaffolding fell nearly 400ft from the tower's roof, narrowly missing workers and passing cars.

Coun Tilsley said the road closure caused considerable damage to the city centre's image.

He said: " We had the problem in February when the scaffolding collapsed. We have now had three days of disruption at a critical time of the year for city centre retailers.

"Developers must realise that while we do want to modernise the city, and work with them, it has to be organised in a way that causes as little disruption as possible.

"We cannot put up with the negative impact that this has had upon city users."

The deputy leader is also calling for a meeting with West Midlands Police Chief Constable Paul Scott-Lee to organise a unified strategy to deal with gridlock.

Coun Tilsley said the council-has to deal with tailbacks alone once the police have made the necessary road closures.

He said that before local government reorganisation in 1974, the Chief Constable of Birmingham City Police would have ensured that officers would have been at major junctions to keep the traffic moving.

"When accidents and incidents happen, the police make the necessary closures but then give the city no assistance to sort out the log jams," said Coun Tilsley, who is responsible for emergency planning.

The Beetham Organisation was unavailable for comment last night.