London 2012 blog

During the London 2012 Games, Villa Park stadium in Birmingham will host part of the Football competition. 

Obviously the Transport team in Birmingham and at Villa Park stadium already have well-oiled transport plans in place for the regular season. However, a Football competition that is part of the world’s biggest sporting event will have a slightly different twist.

On Friday, I met with the Birmingham City Council’s Taskforce for 2012 to talk about how its usual transport plans for the Football competition could be tweaked for the Games, reflecting both the matches and cultural events.

While most football matches traditionally kick-off at 3pm on a Saturday, matches at Villa Park during the Games will be played mid-week. It is also likely that instead of just one match each day, there could be some 'double-headers'. Matches will be played at different times of the day and there will also likely be cultural events that will draw a lot of interest and crowds.
 
Aston Villa and Birmingham City in action at Villa Park earlier this year:

We have to make sure that we factor all of these 'Games' elements into transport plans for Villa Park and Birmingham.

I also shared our wider transport plans for the Games with the council. Some 400,000 spectators from the Midlands will be travelling to watch sport and cultural events at venues and live sites within London and across the UK. We want to make it easy for everyone - wherever they live - to get to the Games.

The Games will bring a lot of excitement to all of the UK. They also give cities like Birmingham the great experience of hosting a sport within the unique setting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.