Exclusive - Manchester Council Leader - Liverpool could use Velodrome for Commonwealth Games
The leader of Manchester Council has told Radio City News Liverpool could use their Velodrome should the city host the Commonwealth Games
The leader of Manchester Council has told Radio City News that Liverpool could use their Velodrome should the city host the Commonwealth Games
It's been announced that Liverpool will prepare a bid to host the event in 2026.
A final decision as to whether Liverpool will be nominated as the UK City to bid for the Games will be made in September 2018, with the ultimate decision as to who will host the 2026 Commonwealth Games confirmed in September 2019.
Former host cities including the likes of Manchester & Glasgow are set to be approached so lessons can be learned around their first-hand experiences of staging the event
Manchester became the first place in the country to build a specially designined Olympic standard track in the UK - built for the City's Commonwealth's Games in 2002.
There are currently three in the UK - Manchester, London and Glasgow.
Sir Richard Leese told Radio City that the Council would be open to the idea of allowing Liverpool to use it as their centre for cycling events if they were to host their own Games.
He said: "There isn't enough to go around to fill that many Velodromes. If it makes sense for Liverpool to use ours instead rather than to build a new one which might not have an after use then we'd be very happy to work with them around that"
"It's very easy to build another one but it's what you do with it after, and you don't want to build a Velodrome that has only effectivley a few days use."
"We have an agreement with London & Glasgow about how we get the best use out of ours. Although cycling is immensly popular, there isn't that much cycling in terms of events to go around."
A Project Director is set to be appointed to oversee the capabiliies of Liverpool being able to host an event as big as the Commonwealth Games.
An independent consultancy firm recruited to carry out a full feasibility study.
This will include an assessment of the city’s infrastructure against the technical requirements set out by the Commonwealth Games Federation, as well as a financial appraisal looking at all the key factors required to deliver the high-profile event.