A Legacy for All
October 26, 2009 12:00 AM
In The House Magazine
In The House Magazine
How can we get best value from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games? The £9.35 billion price tag would be eye-watering at the best of times. In an economic crisis, the question is even more pertinent.
For this enormous sum of money, we should expect a lasting legacy, not just a six-week sporting spectacular. And that is what London promised from the outset. The 'legacy' was central to London winning the bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Urban and social regeneration and increased sports participation were supposed to be hallmarks of these Games.
These legacy objectives were not promises hidden away in some formal document. They were broadcast loudly to Londoners and the wider UK population. Indeed, it is worth going back five years and examining the extensive media campaign for London's successful bid. We were all invited to 'Leap for London' and a highly imaginative advertising campaign focused on the benefits the Games would bring to ordinary people, of all ages.
Is London living up to its promises? As a long-standing supporter of the 2012 Games, I take no delight in reporting that the record so far is a mixed bag.
The London Assembly's Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee, which I chair, has twice examined progress towards a lasting legacy. Our second report was published in July. We looked at each of the five legacy promises made by the former mayor and subsequently adopted by Boris Johnson. In the spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, we awarded gold, silver and bronze on progress in each of the legacy areas.
We awarded only one gold, for the transformation of one of the most deprived areas of London into a new Olympic Park. It is breathtaking to witness the impact already of the investment on the site. The changes stretch from the clean-up of contaminated soil through to progress on the new Docklands Light Railway platforms at Stratford International. And most notably, the main stadium is almost complete. The roof of the Aquatics Centre is in place and construction of the village is well underway.
Regrettably, the other four legacy areas merited lower awards:
· Silver - Deliver a sustainable Games and developing sustainable communities.
· Silver - Increase opportunities for Londoners to become involved in sport.
· Bronze - Ensure Londoners benefit from new jobs, businesses and volunteering opportunities.
· Bronze - Showcase London as a diverse, creative and welcoming city.
To ensure a real change takes place for the boroughs neighbouring the Olympic Park, the key must be to ensure that local people get their fair share of houses and jobs. There must also be a big increase in the targets for giving skills to the local workforce because these targets have been set pitifully low.
It is in sports participation that perhaps the greatest challenge lies ahead. No other Olympic host city has managed to achieve a sustained increase in sport - not even sports-mad Sydney. And there has actually been a fall in participation in many sports in the UK in recent years. Hopes that the 2012 Games would challenge the growth in obesity among young people are sadly proving to be groundless.
Yet it is the promise of greater participation in sport by disabled people where I feel there has been the biggest letdown. Most disabled children are educated in mainstream schools. They are routinely sidelined from sports provision because their teachers have no specialist training in teaching sport to disabled children. And if these children feel inspired by the Paralympics to take up a sport, they will probably be frustrated by a severe shortage of sports clubs with special facilities as well as a lack of accessible transport to take them to the few facilities that do exist.
As if that were not bad enough, there is even a risk that the Paralympics will be marginalised in television coverage. Britain came second in the world in the medal tally at the Beijing Paralympic Games. It is embarrassing that there is still no broadcasting contract in place for London's Paralympics. This embarrassment turns to shame when one discovers that, unlike the Olympics where viewing is guaranteed on free-to-view television, the broadcasting of the Paralympics might be limited to pay-to-view television. If the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics really are to have a legacy for all, they must be capable of being viewed by all.
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats