Council chiefs unveil 20-year vision for Digbeth to investors

A FRESH vision of Birmingham by 2045 has been unveiled by city council chiefs, with the city centre, Digbeth and the area out to Bordesley Green and beyond 'transformed' with major new developments.

- JANE HAYNES News Reporter

Exciting artists' impressions of the city were produced for a prospectus aimed at developers and potential investors and shows the scale of the ambition of city leaders.

It is backed up with a defiant message to urge residents to have faith in a bright future, despite the 'negativity' of headlines about the ongoing bin strike and the council's financial distress.

The image is the centrepiece of a new 'Digbeth Prospectus' unveiled by the city council's managing director Joanne Roney at an international conference.

It shows a newly-laid HS2 train line sweeping into the city to the new station in Curzon Street, surrounded by new housing and leisure developments across Digbeth, including an extended tramline through it, before the eye is drawn out to the new Sports Quarter planned by Birmingham City FC owners Knighthead in Bordesley Green.

The prospectus's chief ambition is to encourage interest from the private sector in ten development sites across 35 plots in Digbeth and nearby.

An official launch took place at the UK Real Estate, Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds. The prospectus contains plans for more than 6,000 new homes and 300,000 square metres of commercial floorspace across Digbeth and is part of the council's Our Future City: Central Birmingham Framework 2045 regeneration vision, which plans to provide 10,000 homes in the wider Central East area.

Digbeth sits within a triangle of major development schemes and investment in the city, including HS2 Curzon Street Station and the growing Birmingham Knowledge Quarter to the north, the £2.8 billion Smithfield scheme to the south, and the emerging Sports Quarter to the east.

"These are drawing in billions of pounds of investment and funding in the short and long-term, positioning Digbeth at the heart of the city's transformational journey," says the prospectus.