English National Stadium (West Midlands)

With the 2001 announcement that the original Wembley Stadium was to be demolished, bids were put forward for a new national stadium for England. The West Midlands bid became the main rival to the eventual winning bid to build a new stadium on the site of the old Wembley, for association and rugby league football and music concerts, and with a leisure complex.^[1]

The proposal was for an 85,000 capacity saddle shaped bowl stadium designed by stadia specialists ArupSport priced at around £324m. The stadium was to be jointly owned by a new company formed from the two councils - Birmingham and Solihull, the NEC group, and event owners such as the FA.^[2]

Advocates of the stadium highlighted numerous benefits:

• Location - The stadium would be in the centre of England and therefore more easily accessible to those living in the North than a stadium in London.
• Cost - The anticipated cost was lower than other bids, including the stadium in London.^[1]
• Transport Connections - As part of the wider NEC site the stadium would have had access to a dedicated rail station - Birmingham International railway station - an airport - Birmingham Airport - and excellent motorway links, to the South East via the M42 and the M40 the South West via the M5, and the North via the M6.^[1]
• Surrounding attractions - The area is already well served by hotels, and has a number of other attractions next to the proposed site, including the National Exhibition Centre, Resorts World Arena, and more recently a Casino, Cinema and Outlet Shopping Centre.^[1]

The proposal received support from a large cross section of people, including business personalities such as Karren Brady, high profile figures in football such as Doug Ellis, and more than two-thirds of fans surveyed by the Football Supporters' Association.

A cross party parliamentary motion for support of the stadium bid received over 100 signatures.^[3]