Residents have reacted with anger to news a flagship Birmingham ‘legacy’ housing scheme is set to cost taxpayers millions for years and still lies empty. The Perry Barr Regeneration Scheme at its heart was meant to see an athletes’ village for the Commonwealth Games in 2022.
And then those flats were set to be retrofitted and repurposed for sale and rent to provide much needed homes for the city’s residents. They would be a lasting reminder of the benefits of the games. Plots 6, 7, 8 and 9 have been built – some 968 homes – but never yet occupied.
And a damning Birmingham City Council cabinet report, released this week, has exposed a litany of failures with the half a billion pound scheme, and the staggering ongoing costs to taxpayers. BirminghamLive has reported that even with any sales of flats at the Perry Barr site, it is expected to leave a shortfall of up to £152 million from what what they cost to build.
Read more: The truth about Commonwealth Games Village project revealed in damning report
And the Perry Barr Regeneration Scheme Update report says it will cost taxpayers £8 million to £9 million to service that debt over 40 years. That adds up to an even greater total cost of £320 million to £360, for a a housing scheme that was expected to turn a profit.
Worse still, the opposition Conservatives say any receipts from sales of flats or apartment blocks to property moguls, will go towards the council’s general debt – not the cost of this scheme. Birmingham’s Tories have even said the total bill for the games village – which did not happen in time, and still in January 2025 lies idle, could even be an eye-watering £688 million.
BirminghamLive visited the ‘ghost’ village in Perry Barr, built despite a decision in 2020, during the Covid pandemic, to scrap the pre-games deadline. Now shiny apartment blocks sit sealed off behind fences, with just security guards for occupants. Behind the fences were meant to be 430 one and two-bed apartments to buy, 270 one and two-bed apartments to rent and 268 assisted living apartments – an extra care facility with communal facilities.
But now some 213 of those homes, Plot 9, originally meant to be sold, are being kept by Birmingham City Council for social housing. And two more plots, 7 and 8, which both face the bus-only lane on Aldridge Road, and feature some 487 apartments, have been sold to Legal & General Affordable Homes last month for a ‘a mix of rent and shared ownership’. Asked how much the council received for the sales, a spokesman said ‘it is commercially sensitive’.
A spokeswoman for Legal & General said: “The flats are being advertised now and will be ready to buy in the next few weeks. There will be 187 homes for affordable rent, 159 for Shared Ownership and 139 for social rent.”
The council said together with the council properties that will give 700 ‘affordable’ homes, which ‘more than doubles the original 312-home target’. But will bring in far less revenue than originally anticipated. And the whole plot is ghostly quiet and looks abandoned. It appears the one plot that has yet to find any buyers is Plot 6, with 268 assisted living apartments.
The fenced off Perry Barr housing scheme, originally planned to be the Commonwealth Games’ athletes’ village in 2022, then much-needed housing – but now some two-and-a-half years on still remains empty
(Image: BirminghamLive)
‘We have been staying in a homeless centre and this is doing nothing’
Our reporter spoke to passers-by on their thoughts on what is happening with the site and the response was near universal – ‘what a waste of money’. The most poignant reply came from a young mum living in a homeless centre off nearby Oscott Road, the other side of the development. It is just a couple of hundred yards from the Perry Barr ‘games’ village.
She walked past the apartment blocks and looked at the flats with envy saying: “We live in Oscott Gardens and we have got rats and mice. It’s dirty.
“It’s a homeless centre. We have been wondering why we have been staying there and this is doing nothing. There’s drugs there and knife crime. Broken buildings. Everything is bad.”
Saeed Ahmed from Hamstead, said: “There are too many homeless people. If the council has some of them, why don’t they bring people to live in it.
“This is a crime. Too many flats are empty. A guy next to me has four children and they live in a one-bedroom property. This would be better.”
Read more: Commonwealth Games legacy project timeline amid huge financial loss
‘They had for sales signs – and then they disappeared’
Homes had appeared for sale with estate agents Connells first in October 2023 priced between £173,400 and £229,500, but a spokeswoman for the firm said: “While we haven’t marketed the apartments since February 2024, we’re looking forward to working with Legal & General Affordable Homes to market a number of apartments for Shared Ownership in the coming months.”
The site is next to the old National Express Perry Barr bus depot, which was controversially moved just 300 metres away. But bus workers were using the bus stops in front of the ghostly Perry Barr village site. One said: “They built them and had for sale signs in the windows of some of them and then the signs disappeared.” Another National Express worker said: “They are empty and they need to be filled.”
And a third, who has worked for the bus firm for 19 years and knows the Perry Barr area well said: “It’s been a joke. That was supposed to be open for the Commonwealth Games. During the lockdown they wasn’t doing anything. The biggest problem with the flats is they’re leasehold and it’s next to impossible for people to get a mortgage.”
Another passer-by, an 85-year-old woman who lives off Aldridge Road said: “I thought they were student ones. I live in a council property and they are very small and the council does the bare minimum. I have got a problem with slugs and mould. They painted it [the mould] over but the slugs are back.”
‘There were 47 different flats here on the Birmingham Choice site’
Sheree Fothergill (left) and Janet Wilson, both from Kingstanding, said it was a ‘shame its empty’ with Sheree saying she had scene flats at the Perry Barr site appearing on the city council’s social housing site
There was some signs the apartments’ site could soon have occupants. Flats at the site have been on Birmingham Choice – the city council’s social housing site said Sheree Fothergill. The 48-year-old from Kingstanding said: “I am on the housing list and was told about these flats just before Christmas. There were 47 different flats on there yesterday (January 14).
“If you get accepted you get to view it and if it doesn’t need repairs, you move in within a week. I have got a three-bedroom house at the moment. But I am stuck in the living room because of my disability.
“I have turned the Perry Barr flat down as I need a two-bedroom bungalow.” Sheree’s friend, Janet Warren, added: “It’s a shame it’s empty. It would be nice to see it full. It would help the shops with more customers.” While Legal & General has launched a Perry Barr Village site advertising new one and two-bed apartments ‘coming soon’.
Rubbish has built up around the Perry Barr site like here by a gate which leads to the back of the apartment blocks
‘There is rubbish everywhere. It’s just disgusting really’
But criticism of the scheme was widespread. One woman shouted out: “It’s a waste of money. Look at how many people are looking for a property. How many are looking for houses.
“The bible says a fool and their money…. [are soon parted].” Another echoed those views and said: “It’s a waste of money if they are not going to put people in that need them.” And a third woman repeated the waste comment and added: “There’s people homeless.
“I work nearby and I have seen it all go up. There is rubbish everywhere. It’s just disgusting really.
“I have worked here for 20-odd years. The flats were on the internet. To be honest they looked quite nice. If they are used it will be better.
“It [the Commonwealth Games/Perry Barr Regeneration was supposed to be making the area better. It hasn’t really.” Another woman said: “I heard they weren’t up to standard.” Another said: “They haven’t got kitchens.” But neither rumour is understood to be true.
Read more: ‘The Commonwealth Games should never have gone ahead’ – Brummies speak out
‘They are too expensive for people getting mortgages’
Andy Atkinson, 63, who lives off Aldridge Road said: “They are a complete waste of money. They are too expensive for people getting mortgages. And some were meant to be for social housing.
“There’s supposed to be a housing shortage and all of these are waiting to be filled. Where I lived I am in an HMO and I can’t get on a housing list. You have got to be living on the street.” And Andy appears to have hit the nail on the head as the flats were withdrawn for sale and are now to become social and affordable housing.
A passenger waiting for a bus said: “It should be used. There’s a lot of homeless people around. Women in refuges. Birmingham has got no social housing. It’s just a waste.”
A 39-year-old women who works with young people said: “There are people in temporary accommodation who can’t move in. People wanting places. I get annoyed about this. No wonder Birmingham’s in such a mess.”
One man simply said: “It’s just a shower of s**t.” Des Young said he lives locally in Perry Barr and said: “I heard they have no kitchens. They should be let or sold. There’s homeless people I know and they have got nowhere to live. They are just going to centres for the night.“
Birmingham City Council was asked to confirm what the true debt cost for the Perry Barr ‘games village’ flats will be – £150 million, £320 to £360 million or £688 million as the Conservatives claim. A council spokesman said they were ‘still looking into the issue surrounding costs.
Asked on why the 968 apartments lie empty, months after completion the Birmingham City Council spokesman said: “As well as building the plots, the council needs to go through a process of marketing, sales, contract negotiations and conveyancing for each of these plots.
“This work started before the plots were completed, but the challenging market conditions played a part in delaying the sale of the plots. Contracts of this nature generally take time to conclude and to achieve the best possible deal for the city in terms of capital receipts and the provision of affordable housing.
“The council is undertaking a series of modifications to the homes it has retained for social housing to ensure they meet the needs of our tenants. This work is expected to be completed in the spring, at which point the homes will be ready for occupation.“
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In response to the Perry Barr Regeneration Scheme Update report Cllr Sharon Thompson, the council’s deputy leader and Cabinet member for economy and skills, said: “The report lays out difficult lessons the organisation needs to learn, and we welcome the views and recommendations from the commissioners. Birmingham City Council is being transformed, and its governance processes are being strengthened to ensure that members get the best professional advice, ensuring that these mistakes are not repeated.
“We now have the senior leadership team in place to deliver this transformation and are committed to ensuring that Birmingham City Council becomes a financially sustainable, well-run council that delivers good services to citizens. The Perry Barr residential scheme will still deliver much-needed homes for the north-west of the city, with high-quality homes for rent and sale.
“Crucially, many of these new homes will be affordable homes. The recent deal with Legal & General Affordable Homes will ensure that double the number of affordable homes set out in the planning application will be provided.”