Birmingham in the wings for Wembley

The team behind the rival Birmingham bid for a new national sports stadium have asked the government to stick to yesterday's deadline (April 30) for financial development bids for the Wembley site.

Last Friday (April 26) Barclays pulled out of financing the new 90,000-seater stadium. The most likely source of finance is now the German bank Westdeutsche Landesbank, but the bankers have not yet reached an agreement.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell halted the original £715m scheme last December and set the four month deadline, which has just run out, for the Wembley team to present its progress plans.

The FA is expected to make a statement on funding by the end of next week (April 10).

The Committee of MPs that oversees the DCMS is to investigate the Wembley stadium project, raising the possibility of publishing a confidential report on the Football Association (FA) subsidiary, Wembley National Stadium's (WNS) handling of contracts.

The parliamentary committee meets on May 14 to begin its scrutiny of WNS's plans. Details: www.culture.gov.uk