For the local sighting of the NEC Birmingham, Birmingham, Birmingham Council, its large population and the rest of the West Midlands owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Leicester County Council who, although unknown by a vast majority of UK citizens, was first offered the opportunity to house the venue. Fortunately for Birmingham, the view of Leicester County Council, at the time of the offer, was that big commercial, trade and entertainment shows would not move from London.

Since its inauguration numerous international stars have performed at NEC Birmingham, including The Spice Girls, Lady Gaga, Neil Diamond, Pet Shop Boys, Sir Cliff Richard, Queen, Beyonce, Status Quo, Tina Turner, Phil Collins, Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode to name  but a few.

Annual Exhibitions/events include Auto Sport International, BBC Gardner's World Live, BBC Good Food Show, Clothes Show Live, D.F.S., Euro Bus Expo, Crufts Dog Show, Gadget Show Live, Grand Designs Live, Horse of the Year Show and the British Open Show Jumping Championship. 

One of the major benefits of Birmingham NEC and its location is its easy means of access. It is sited close to Birmingham Airport for air passengers and within a short distance of the M42, M6 and M40 motorways and being at the hub of the UK motorway network. It also stands adjacent to Birmingham International Railway Station. Buses and Taxis are readily available, with Birmingham City Centre just a short journey away. Also with the High Speed rail link proposals, including and the building of a new railway station close to Birmingham Airport,  Birmingham NEC will also stand at the hub of the British Rail network.

The NEC Birmingham provides parking facilities for some 29,000 cars around the site and operates a to and from shuttle bus service from these parking areas.

NEC Birmingham currently sees some three million visitors annually, which obviously brings major revenue to not only the city but also its surrounding areas. The then Leicester City Council fully deserve the entire thanks of Birmingham and a large proportion of the surrounding West Midlands for their negative decision when the NEC venue offer was first made to them some forty plus years ago..    

Approval for NEC Birmingham was granted by the Secretary of State for the Environment in November 1971 and the first phase of NEC Birmingham, comprising some 89,000 square metres of exhibition space was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, in February 1976.

The centre was extended by another 36,000 square metres with the addition of three more halls and these were again opened by Her Majesty in February 1989.

There was an addition of four more halls in 1993 with the accumulation of 33,000 square metres of more exhibition space.

In September 1998, four more halls were opened by Neil Kinnock, ex UK Prime Minister and the then European Commissioner for Transport. This increase added another 32,000 square metres of exhibition space. This brought the overall total of display space to 190,000 square metres.

The NEC Birmingham is ideally situated close to all forms of transport, with the National Rail Network, Birmingham Airport and major motorway links all close at hand, making it easily accessible, not only for the UK, but for worldwide travellers. It boasts close at hand hotels and of vital importance, adequate and easily accessible parking facilities.

The initial 13,000 capacity LG Arena, formally known as the Birmingham NEC arena, was opened in the mid eighties and following a name change in September 2008, went through a major overall of its facilities and now has an increased seating capacity to approximately 16,000 people.

The NEC currently comprises of 21 halls, totalling some 200,000 square metres of exhibition space on a 650 acre site; the halls are interlinked with level flooring making it the biggest exhibition centre in Europe.

The NEC Birmingham also provides first class accommodation by means of the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, which is just 10 minutes from Birmingham International Airport and located on the site of the Birmingham NEC. The hotel provides rooms of various standards ranging from Family, Guest, Deluxe and Executives rooms or Suites. It also provides a fully equipped Health Club and an indoor heated swimming Pool. It also has available 33 conference/meeting rooms for up to 2000 with the support of a fully experienced Events Manager. Easy access into Birmingham is available by either road or rail.

By 2013, the NEC Group hopes to have a new conference and banqueting centre open and will form part of the new casino and hotel resort. Once completed it is anticipated that some 1,000 new jobs, including 1,700 during the construction stage, will be created at the centre which will also include a four star hotel, casino, spa, restaurants and bars. The new conference centre will hold up to 1,000 for dinners and some 600 delegates for a flat floor conference.

In April 2011, the group's Chief Executive, Paul Thandi showcased plans to develop the area of land between the LG Arena and the Crowne Plaza Hotel and indicated that the NEC Group wanted it to be the place people came to discover the future of 21^st Century entertainment and that the new entertainment complex project would drive the Group back to the number one destination for exhibitions and conferences in Europe. He also expressed hopes that the new centre would keep exhibition visitors on site instead of them moving to other locations once events had ended.

The proposed new complex would also include 300 extra car parking spaces and a multi screen cinema.

Although permission for the scheme has not yet been granted it would surely be in the best interest of both Birmingham and Solihull Council, where planning permission will be sort, to support the application, bearing in mind the amount of income that will obviously be generated by the completed proposals for both them and the West Midlands in general.

Surely they would not follow the example set by Leicester County Council in declining the offer of housing the NEC over forty years ago, just look at what they have missed over this time.