Sporting legacy plan needs detail to deliver (Dee Doocey)

Sporting legacy plan needs detail to deliver

April 28, 2009 2:14 PM

Responding to the Mayor's 2012 Games sporting legacy plan - published today - Dee Doocey, Chair of the London Assembly Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee Chair said:

"The fact that we now have a plan is a positive step, but there are some issues.

"Today's document has the benefit of being a product of extensive consultation with a wide range of people and organisations. Having a strategy in place setting out the priorities for the legacy and appointing a single body to lead it is also very welcome.

"However, some of the key aspects that were promised are absent from the document.

"Today's legacy plan was supposed to 'identify gaps in provision and infrastructure and propose actions to address these gaps', and this Committee's submission to the Mayor stressed the importance of this. Instead it is being left to the boroughs to assess local sports facilities on a piecemeal basis, with a post-Games deadline.

"Ensuring the right facilities are available can have a huge impact on the likelihood of people participating in physical activity and, as our recent investigation into the number of swimming pools in the capital showed, provision can be patchy.

"It is also unfortunate the plan does not reflect the Committee's report highlighting the need for targeted action to secure a sporting legacy for young people - I hope we will see more detail on this as a matter of urgency.

"This Committee will continue to monitor progress on all aspects of the Olympics legacy to ensure Londoners get more than a few weeks of spectacle in 2012 in exchange for the huge amount invested in its success."