The controversial sale of Paradise Circus car park has been halted following a backlash from nearby arts venues - and a claim it will cause a 'cultural calamity'.
The Town Hall and Symphony Hall (THSH), Birmingham Repertory Theatre and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) have expressed concerns that the decision by Birmingham City Council will hurt their audiences.
The CBSO went as far as to say it was the 'worst type of short term thinking' according to Conservative councillor Ewan Mackey (Sutton Roughley) who led a successful move to halt the proposal earlier this week after seeking reaction from the arts businesses.
The car park on Brindley Drive has 610 spaces and generates a net income of £700,000 from the council, which owns it, but it has been identified as requiring major investment in the next few years while the site has been touted as a prime redevelopment area.
The decision to sell it was agreed by cabinet last month where council leader Ian Ward argued the arts venues would be served by the Birmingham Westside Metro extension and a new car park within the Paradise development.
Addressing the council's Resources committee on Wednesday Cllr Mackey, who is also a trustee of THSH, argued that the major arts organisations had not been consulted on the idea and only became aware of it when it was reported in the media - via the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
He said: "This is an extremely well-used car park, it's used by theatre goers, by people going to the ICC (The International Convention Centre), The Rep, Town Hall, Symphony Hall and the library.
"We do feel if this sale is allowed to go through it will ultimately lead to what will be a cultural calamity for this sector."
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Cllr Mackey added: "No-one really knows how many people are going to use the tram.
"I do hope that it's successful but for all of these businesses that are hoping to get greater commercial returns to cover cutbacks in their budgets, if the tram does not get the numbers that people want, and it becomes a white elephant, that could destroy these businesses.
"And I would suggest at this moment in time we have some caution until we see how successful the tram is."
Deputy Conservative group leader Debbie Clancy (Longbridge and West Heath), seconded the call-in, arguing the council had not carried out a proper equality impact assessment, and that the loss of the car park would affect disabled people in particular.
Cllr Ward attempted to temper the concerns by arguing there was an oversupply of car parking spaces in the city centre - including 2,100 surplus spaces serving the Broad Street entertainment district alone.
He also said the council did not need to consult with the arts venues and questioned whether they have 'hard data' to back up their fears about losing audiences.
The leader reiterated the fact the new Paradise car park would be open next year - before the Paradise Circus car park is demolished - and pointed to the future transport aims of the council.
He said: "If we don't do more than we are currently doing to move people out of their cars and into more sustainable forms of transport, then even if everyone is driving around in electric cars in the future with the increase in population in the city that is forecast between now and 2031, we will end up in gridlock, albeit people sat in gridlock in electric cars."
Following an hour-long debate the Resources committee agreed for the sale to be 'called-in' for it to go back to the cabinet for reconsideration.
Committee chairman Sir Albert Bore said there were 'grave deficiences' with the original report.
