New £11bn city corporation 'the biggest in UK'

A new corporation set to bring £11bn of regeneration to Birmingham has been approved by the government.

The Birmingham East Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) aims to speed up projects like the Sports Quarter in Bordesley Green - where Birmingham City Football Club is building a new stadium - by allowing more direct control over planning and land acquisition.

The MDC is also due to assist projects in Digbeth, Smithfield and the city centre, with senior figures claiming it will help create 50,000 new homes and 20,000 jobs.

It will be the biggest such corporation in the country and the most significant since the one created to deliver the 2012 Olympic legacy plans in London.

Richard Parker, West Midlands Mayor, said the move will give businesses more confidence to invest in the city.

In 2024, the football club announced the purchase of a vacant 48-acre site in the east of the city and unveiled ambitious proposals to build a new stadium.

Designs for The Powerhouse, as it will be known, were then unveiled last November.

A world-class training centre is also planned, along with a women's stadium, arena and a mixed-use development, with housing as part of the wider Sports Quarter plans.

The idea behind BMDC is to make developments happen more quickly and easily sand it will have a range of powers including business tax incentives and infrastructure funding.

• Birmingham Sports Quarter - what you need to know

"It's going to have land acquisitioning powers, it's going to have the ability to decontaminate sites and its going to streamline planning," Parker added.

"Doing that will give business the confidence it needs, not just to invest here but actually do the work they need to do here really quickly.

"The MDC is a really ambitious project. We're going to create a new delivery vehicle that's going to be focused explicitly on building out these sites."

Parker continued: "Importantly, it was put in place to streamline planning, quicken the pace of delivery, allow us to acquire sites and remedy brownfield lane really quickly.

"Those arrangements are safe and secure – they've been approved by my board, approved by the council's cabinet and approved by government."

Joanne Roney, managing director of the city council, said the Sports Quarter area has some of the highest levels of deprivation in the UK.

"What the MDC will be able to do is now really work through pathways," she said.

"We're putting skills funding in, working with government to see if we can bring additional flexibilities around apprenticeships levies or any other good ideas.

"We have to say, 'What do we really need to do here?', to connect communities to these jobs."

The MDC is set to cover an area the size of more than 600 football pitches and include some of the biggest regeneration projects in Europe.

Planned developments include a £4bn Birmingham Knowledge Quarter, HS2 Curzon Street Station and adjoining Central Heart site, £2bn Smithfield development next to the Bullring and a major creative industries hub in Digbeth.

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