WORK will begin on building Birmingham’s new city centre park in May and the £12 million project is expected to be finished by the summer of next year.

Council leaders are ready to approve the long-awaited “green lung” at Eastside, which was first proposed ten years ago.

But it will be slightly smaller than first planned.

A report to be tabled at the next meeting of the city cabinet revealed the size of the park was being reduced from eight to 6.75 acres.

The cost-cutting move removed Canalside Gardens, near Millennium Point, from the park, enabling the land to be sold by the council for development.

The park will boast a series of formal gardens forming a walkway between Moor Street Queensway and Curzon Street, close to Birmingham’s planned high-speed rail station.