Britain was among several countries which attended a special seminar in Lausanne last month organised by European Athletics, which outlined the procedures for bidding for the 2016 event.

European Athletics announced that seven cities have confirmed their candidature for the two events, but Birmingham, which has set in motion a £12.25m ($19.41 million) redevelopment of Alexander Stadium (pictured) designed to enable the arena to stage major international events, is not among them.

Potential event hosts were due to confirm their candidatures by November 12, with bids due in by February 28, 2011.

The European Athletics Council decision on who will host the two events is scheduled for November 2011.

"Birmingham has an aspiration to host major sporting events in the future, but there is nothing on the table for 2015 or 2016 at the moment," a spokesman for Birmingham City Council told insidethegames today.

"We are building a new stand at the Alexander Stadium, and the work is due to be completed next summer.

"There was a bit of a debate in our city Cabinet when the plans were put forward, and people were asking what the benefits would be.

"Martin Mullaney, the Councillor in charge of leisure at Birmingham City Council, made it clear that the work was not being done on a cosmetic basis, but because we wanted to host future events.

"We have already said we would like to host an IAAF Samsung Diamond League event in future, and we are also hosting the US track and field team in their preparations for the 2012 Games.

"So we are not saying a definite no to the Europeans – but there are simply no plans to bid as we speak."

Split, Amsterdam, Bydgoszcz and Istanbul have all put themselves in contention for the right to host the 2016 European Athletics Championships and are also expected to submit their bids by the end of February next year.

Prague, Budapest, Belgrade and Istanbul must now submit formal bids to host the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships - an event which Birmingham held with huge success in 2007, four years after an equally successful staging of the World Indoor Championships.

Christian Milz, director general of European Athletics, said: "These Championships are our flagship events and a vital platform for European Athletics to communicate our messages and values across the continent, so it is very encouraging for us to receive such high quality bids.

"All these cities attended a bidding seminar organised by European Athletics in Lausanne in October as part of our long-term planning strategy, so they know exactly what is required from our side in order to continue to make the events a success."

The decision on the host cities will be made after a thorough examination of the bidding documents by European Athletics and site evaluation visits.

UK Athletics was represented by Roger Simons, a member of its Council.

The bidding seminar, chaired by European Athletics president Hansjörg Wirz, is part of European Athletics' new strategy of long-term planning for event allocation that was established in 2009.

Britain is the most successful country in the history of the European Championships behind the now disbanded Soviet Union and East Germany, having won a total of 90 gold medals, 13 ahead of its nearest rival Germany.

But since the event was first held in Turin in 1934 it has never been staged in Britain.

From 2012, the European Championships are due to switch from being held every four years to every other year.

The 2012 Championships will be held in Helsinki with the 2014 event in Zurich.

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