Wembley will be the home of England’s new national stadium.
The announcement was made this afternoon by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and the Football Association (FA), and a report on the national stadium project, commissioned by the government, will be published shortly.
Under the arrangement, Birmingham’s bid will be revived if the Wembley scheme fails, but Coventry will not be considered.
Aston Villa FC chairman Doug Ellis, a key backer of the proposal to site the national stadium in Birmingham, previously described the move to support Wembley as “disgraceful”.
Daniel Lynch construction, a key supporter of the Coventry bid, has claimed that Coventry was being ignored because it posed a threat to the Wembley lobby.
The Wembley Stadium site will now be redeveloped as a permanent home for international football games, at a cost of around £700m.
Lord Foster’s design (pictured), with a big arch instead of Wembley’s renowned twin towers, will be retained, but other aspects of the original plans, including a hotel and office complex, are thought to have been dropped.
The financing of the project has not been finalised, but builder Multiplex has offered to raise the bulk of the £450m construction costs in return for a stadium lease-back deal with the FA.
There will be little government money, apart from some redevelopment funding.
London mayor Ken Livingstone, one of the Wembley bid’s fiercest lobbyists, said: “I agree with the FA – Wembley is the first choice – let’s now go for it. Retaining the national football stadium at Wembley was the only viable option, and I am delighted that this announcement today has confirmed the case that London has put from day one. Only a stadium in London can secure the premium seating required to make it work financially in the long-term.”
EGi News 19/12/01
