Athletes' village development revealed a year late

Almost 1,000 flats originally planned as an athletes' village for the 2022 Commonwealth Games have been delivered.

The development in Perry Barr, Birmingham, was delayed due to coronavirus with athletes instead being housed in student accommodation.

The first phase of the £700m project was unveiled earlier, comprising 968 flats, 312 of which will be affordable housing.

The city council said it was "very important" that it stuck to delivering the development.

"It's creating new homes for our growing population and it's very much a need we have in this city to build more homes," said council leader Ian Ward.

He said the area was "one of the best connected in terms of public transport", with a rapid bus transport scheme as well as a new railway station and cycle path.

"There's really no need for anyone here to own a car," he added.

The landscaped development also includes a basketball court, football pitch and children's play area.

The one and two-bedroom apartments are open to expressions of interest and will be listed for sale between £160,000 and £220,000.

The council faced criticism when it announced in 2020 the athletes' village - the part of the games that it had sole responsibility for - would be scrapped.

"The original intention was this would house athletes for the Commonwealth Games but of course Covid intervened and we couldn't deliver that on time," Mr Ward said.

"But what we have gone on to create here is 968 new homes, we've got planning consent for 1,400 and this I think is a development we can be really proud of."