Express & Star

Road restrictions set for Tory party conference

Access to city centre roads will be restricted and a huge security operation will be in place as the Conservative party conference comes to Birmingham next weekend.

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More than 14,000 delegates, including the Prime Minister and his cabinet, will descend on Birmingham for the four-day autumn conference - the last before next year's General Election.

It is expected to boost Birmingham's economy by £17 million but will require a massive police presence.

Road closures will be in place around the International Convention Centre while the conference is underway and even for days before.

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Broad Street, from Paradise Circus to Gas Street, and Bridge Street, from Broad Street to Canal Bridge, will have no vehicle access from 8pm on Wednesday, September 24.

Bridge Street will remain closed until after the conference ends the following Wednesday, October 1.

It will be re-opened from 5am on October 2.

There will also be width restrictions on Broad Street and Cambridge Street.

Waiting will not be permitted in any part of Bridge Street between 8pm on Wednesday and October 1.

What do you think the Tories' policies will be ahead of the election next year? Leave your comments below.

All businesses on Broad Street, in Brindley Place and the surrounding areas will remain open as usual.

This will be the 11th political party conference the city has hosted since 2008, and the final autumn conference to take place before the 2015 General Election. The conference is expected to attract up to 14,000 delegates, with more than 300 fringe events across the four days.

The last time the Conservatives came to Birmingham was in 2012.

The party has only one MP in the city - Sutton Coldfield's Andrew Mitchell - but the West Midlands contains some crucial election battlegrounds.

Seats in Wolverhampton South West, Dudley South, Stourbridge, Halesowen and Rowley Regis, Cannock Chase and Stafford all changed hands from Labour to Conservative in the 2010 General Election.

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David Cameron has to hold on to all of them and increase the number of Conservative MPs, targetting Labour seats such as Dudley North and Walsall North, if he is to have a Tory majority and not have to seek another coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

However the Conservatives are losing votes to UKIP and three Black Country councils that were under Conservative control in 2010 - Wolverhampton, Walsall and Dudley - are now all run by Labour.

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