Massive security at Labour conference

Around 4,000 police officers will be drafted in to guard Birmingham city centre for the next four days for the Labour Party Conference, in a security operation on the same scale as the G8 summit almost a decade ago.

Police and security experts have spent months checking every inch of the International Convention centre which is hosting the event and the Hyatt Hotel, one of the West Midlands' top officers revealed today.

Rooms, cupboards, drawers and even the food served up have all been searched and tested.

Roads and car parks will be closed, buses re-routed and a taxi rank moved as part of the multi-million pound security operation.

The high-profile conference in Broad Street, will be attended by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his Cabinet and 4,000 delegates.

Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Stuart Hyde is heading up the operation.

He said: "It's a absolutely massive, I'd compare it to the G8 summit nine years ago as a police operation.

"Several thousand officers will be deployed throughout the weekend and it's taken about four months to plan."As well as restricted access to the city centre officers have spent months "intimately checking" every inch of the ICC and the Hyatt Hotel.

Rooms, cupboards, drawers and even the food served up have all been searched and tested. ACC Hyde said: "Hopefully it will be a secure, sensitive and a world class operation."

West Midlands Police has revealed a total of £4.5 million is being spent jointly on the Labour Party Conference and the Conservative Party Conference, which will come to Birmingham in the autumn.

The cost of the security operation is being met by the Home Office. Other measures taken include drain covers being lifted, checked and the lids welded shut to prevent bombs being placed inside them.

The pedestrian mall through the ICC in Centenary Square will be closed to the public for the duration of the event and is now off limits until Sunday evening.

All traffic will be banned from Broad Street, between Paradise Circus Queensway and Gas Street from 9pm tonight.

Cambridge Street will also be closed between Civic Close and Brindley Drive and diversions put in place.

The car park behind the Birmingham Rep will be closed and all on street parking spaces will be suspended in Bridge Street, Berkley Street and Sheepcote Street.

Bus stops between Sheepcote Street and Paradise Circus Queensway are suspended.

The Hyatt, in Bridge Street, will be closed to the public over the weekend. The taxi rank opposite the hotel will move to Cambridge Street. Pubs and restaurants in Broad Street and Brindleyplace will be open.