MP in floodlight call over Edgbaston Cricket Ground expansion plans

Oct 10 2009 by Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail

THE city council should only support the expansion of Edgbaston cricket ground if retractable floodlights are installed, a city MP has claimed.

Sparkbrook MP Roger Godsiff believes that if installed at the ground, five permanent floodlight towers would be an unnecessary blot on the city skyline.

He is calling on the council, which is lending Warwickshire County Cricket Club £20 million towards the redevelopment, to demand retractable floodlights.

The club has won planning permission for the redevelopment which it says will ensure that money-spinning cricket Test matches continue to be played in Birmingham.

Mr Godsiff said: “Bearing in mind that the club is seeking the support of the city council in its £20 million loan I think that the additional cost of £30,000-£40,000 a year in interest payments is minute in comparison with the lasting damage that will be done to the scenic appeal of the area. The provision of permanent floodlights at Edgbaston will totally change the skyline of that part the city and I don’t think either residents or people living further a field appreciate just how dominating the five permanent sculptured floodlights will be and how much they will change the landscape.”

He has written to council leader Mike Whitby urging that the council use its leverage through the loan to have retractable lights installed as they are at Lords and the Oval cricket grounds in London.

Earlier this year the council’s cabinet approved the loan in principle as long as certain conditions were first met including planning permission, consultation with the public, a business case for the redevelopment to meet test match standards and a justification for the floodlights.

A spokesman for Birmingham City Council said: “The cricket club has been asked to produce a robust case for permanent floodlights which the cabinet will consider in due course.”