London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
One of the main reasons Seb Coe and his team won the knife-edge vote in Singapore was the stress they put on 'legacy'. The games, if managed properly, will leave a real legacy in terms of sport, economic benefits, regeneration and housing, benefiting not just London but also other parts of the country.
The Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly fully support the Games but we believe it is essential that costs are kept under control and that in particular, London taxpayers should not have to fund any cost over runs. We therefore welcome the recent statement by Tessa Jowell that in future, the National Audit Office will independently review all the Olympic costs on an ongoing basis in order to restore public confidence in the financial management of the Games.
The most obvious physical benefit will be the regeneration of one of the poorest and most derelict parts of London. The construction of the main 500-acre Olympic Park in the Lower Lea Valley in East London will create 10,000 jobs plus training and development for local people. There will be huge business opportunities (construction, manufacturing, catering, merchandising, etc.), from which the whole country can benefit. A new park will be created - the largest new urban park in Europe in the last 150 years, with restored rivers and wetlands.
The games will leave a legacy of new housing and transport improvements. After the games, the Olympic village will provide nearly 3,000 high quality homes, all fully accessible for disabled people. Many of these homes will be affordable. There will be a further 2,500 homes within the Stratford City development. There will be extra schools and health centres to support the new housing as well as improved tube, train and bus networks.
The games will be environmentally sensitive - these will be low-carbon games, to highlight the global issue of climate change, and zero-waste games, with Olympic waste treated as a resource and diverted away from landfill into reuse and recycling projects. The environmental legacy will be that a vast 'brown field' site will have been decontaminated and wildlife habitats restored.
A cultural Olympiad will run in parallel in the build up to the Games and will start following the closing ceremony at the Beijing Games in 2008. A full programme of cultural events will is currently being developed and will include an Olympic Proms, major exhibitions of art and artefacts as well as live music, comedy and fireworks. All these events will attract vast numbers of tourists and bring in much revenue.
Olympic costs - the facts
Two organisations will be responsible for spending money on the Olympics: -
- The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) will 'build the theatre' - infrastructure, venues, land remediation, etc. The public sector, London taxpayers and the lottery will fund this expenditure.
- The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG), will 'put on the show' - everything from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony. This expenditure will be funded by the private sector from ticket and merchandising sales, TV rights and sponsorship.
The total Olympic budget as now approved is £9.3 billion, an increase of £5.9 billion from the original budget of £3.4 billion. This increase includes a contingency of £2.7 billion, and £600 million for security.
Tessa Jowell's statement added that this budget would be funded as follows:
- Government - 64%
- Lottery - 23%
- London - 13%
Our job on the London Assembly will be to scrutinise how this huge project is proceeding to ensure that the opportunities and benefits are maximised and not squandered.
There will be 'glitches' but I have absolutely no doubt at all that London will deliver the best prepared and best organised games ever.
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