Birmingham City University wants £30m refund after high speed rail hits campus plan

Mar 16 2010 by Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post

A Birmingham university is demanding a £30 million refund from taxpayers, after learning its long-awaited new campus will have to be scrapped because of a proposed new high speed rail station.

Work began last year on Birmingham City University’s new £123 million campus in Eastside, which is due to open in 2013.

But the plans have been left in disarray, after the Government’s High Speed 2 inquiry recommended building a new station right on top of the campus site.

Now, the university is asking the city council and government to repay the £30 million it has already spent on the scheme,

A new campus would have been a key part of Birmingham City Council’s Eastside quarter redevelopment project, the largest physical regeneration project in Birmingham, designed to create a new learning district in the neglected area east of the city centre.

It was to be built between Park Street and New Canal Street - but Government plans published last week show that this area will be taken up by the proposed new six-platform “Birmingham Curzon Street” station, which will be used to serve high speed lines to London, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.

The council’s planning committee was expected to approve the detailed proposals this week, after granting outline planning permission last year.

A state-of-the-art campus would include television studios, a library, a theatre, and a 250-seat lecture theatre. The development was also due to include shops and a student bar.

Preparatory work, including cleaning up pollution and ensuring there were no toxic substances on the site, began in January 2009.