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London 'in danger of missing out on legacy from Games'
Pippa Crerar, City Hall Editor30 Oct 2008
LONDONERS are "sorely" at risk of missing out on a lasting sporting legacy from the 2012 Olympics, the Mayor's Commissioner for Sport has warned.
Labour MP Kate Hoey criticised the Government for failing to produce workable plans that would increase sporting participation in the capital.
She also claimed ministers had neglected to plan for what would happen to some of the major Olympic venues after the Games.
"Some of the planning into that did not go into what the legacy would be early enough and now that the economic situation is getting worse we're going to be in a more difficult situation," she told the Commons.
"The legacy in terms of participation from Londoners has been sorely missed out. It has not been planned."
Figures show that one in three children does not play any competitive sport at school with London having the worst record in the country.
She also warned about a "facilities gap" caused by swimming pools and sports clubs closing because of funding difficulties. Ms Hoey, a former sports minister, said Boris Johnson will commit at least £10million of London Development Agency funds to help boost participation in grass-roots sport and would set out his detailed sporting legacy strategy in January.
"It will have one simple target in London, which is to increase participation in sport and physical activity," Ms Hoey told MPs. "That's not going to be easy. No other Olympics have increased participation in sport and if we want to be different then we have to do that.
"We all know what's needed. We know we need more coaching and better coaching, that we need joined-up working between different groups, between school clubs and community groups."
However, Ms Hoey had a word of warning for those who believed sport could act as a panacea to social problems such as violent crime and lack of aspiration in education. "Sport isn't a magic solution to the world's problems. While it can play a vital role, we do need the other interventions," she said.
It came after the Tories warned the Government would inflict a "gross betrayal" of its key Olympic promise if it failed to deliver a lasting sporting legacy. Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs that Britain had "one chance" to inspire a lifetime of sporting activity among young people.
However, Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell insisted the Government was committed to delivering on its legacy promises. "The Games will create memories in the lives of the people we represent forever. We will never have the same opportunity," she said.
WHAT THE POLITICIANS SAY...
Lyn Brown, Labour MP for West Ham: "The Games present us with an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference to an entire community in arguably the poorest area of the country. It's for this reason that the Olympics must not be simply a fabulous sporting and cultural spectacle it must become a mechanism to leave lasting improvements in health, housing, employment and skills of Londoners. To spend that much money and not achieve a lasting legacy would be frankly obscene."
John Whittingdale, Tory chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee: "The real objective we should focus on is legacy. As far as we can see no previous Olympics host country has really achieved a permanent increase in sports participation as a result of having hosted the Olympics. That's not to say we shouldn't try to be the first to do so."
Bob Neill, shadow London minister: "My real concern is that council tax-payers in outer London get a fair share of the Olympic legacy. Lottery money has been moved away from local and community sport to pay a large sum of the Olympic budget. It's not too late for something to be done to give some hard legacy to people in south London, because they're contributing to the Games as much as anyone."
Hugh Robertson, shadow Olympics minister: "The Government can either try and claim everything is perfect and nothing needs to be done or it can acknowledge what I think has been the feeling of the Commons on all sides: that a certain amount has been done but that a great deal more needs to be done ."
Reader views (21)
Dear Vince
Britain cannot afford the Games; if London wanted to redevelop the East End fro sport then divert some of the money from the Crosslink (16 billion). It be better to locate the Olympics somewhere in the centre of the UK where it is accessible to places other than the south east. the rest of the UK contributed to the inverted wok but it did not attract an awful lot of UK residents from out with the M25.
The whole issue is a waste of time and money.
- Ron Oliver, Edinburgh Scotland, 14/11/2008 16:40
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If they are so worried about getting Londoners to do PE inspired by the Olympics why have they tarmaced over so many of the Hackney Marsh public football pitches.
I suppose football is too proletarian.
And then many of us have to work overtime to pay the Olympic levy and don't have time or energy to be gym bunnies.
- Ca Metcalfe, Essex/East London, 05/11/2008 17:05
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I've been harking on about the loss of sporting facilities, especially swimming and diving for years and suddenly it's important!
As anyone involved in sport (apart from football) well knows, there has been almost zero investment or interest in providing sporting facilities in London since the 1960's. My generation (the '50 ish group) have managed to wreck the work done for us by Wolfenden, we've closed facilities and stopped activities that we used to enjoy, often in the name of 'safety'.
The result is a generation of kids with nothing active or fun to do.
We need the investment that London 2012 should have bought, not just an international standard facility for every sport (this IS the Capital city!)but the local sporting infrastructure that has been so ignored for decades.
But, the money that would have paid for a great 'pool in every borough is going to all the consultants and other hangers on!
Diving, which attracts youths into swimming pools, has only 7 facilities open to the general public in London, and for less than 30 hours a week!
The improvement post 2012??
One elite centre.
Not going to be a great legacy is it??
We can get more people involved in sport, we can get more kids of the streets and having fun, BUT, not if all we get is one facility!
And Kate, it's not just about coaching! I've proved that openig diving to the public will get more kids into the pool than you can ever get theough lessons! No trouble, and lots of fun!
- John Whitby, Peterborough, Cambs, 04/11/2008 09:24
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As things are, London cannot afford the games.
- Vince London, West London, 03/11/2008 19:49
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As an East London commuter I can vouch for lots of building activity. In 2013 I will no doubt vouch for the influx of immigrants into the former Olympic Village.
- Bj, London, 03/11/2008 16:15
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What legacy are they trying to leave behind?, apart from the one that will probably put other countries off from bidding for it in the first place?
Can anyone explain the difference between watching the Olympics on TV when they were in China than watching the Olympics on TV that are taking place in London. Will anymore school children etc get off their lazy backsides? er no.
- Anon, London, 03/11/2008 15:34
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Kate Hoey would be far more enthusiastic about the Games if one of the event's included a competition in tearing wild animals to shred's.
- Nick James, London, 03/11/2008 11:14
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A lot of people living in and close to that area are immigrants. Why should they be the ones to get any legacy?
- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx, 31/10/2008 15:44
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I suspect the only legacy will be a half empty shopping centre in Stratford. Sales reaching a peak around the Olympices and then tailing away. It would have been better to hold the Olympics in Manchester!
- Michael, London, 31/10/2008 13:34
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Kate Hoey: "No other Olympics have increased participation in sport"
Tessa Jowell: "The Games will create memories in the lives of the people we represent forever."
Very true, and they'll be very bitter memories.
- Steve, Dalston, Hackney, 31/10/2008 10:43
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The whole purpose of Lord Coe and Jowell's Olympic bid was to divert resource's from community sport to elite athletes.
- Dave, London, 30/10/2008 18:59
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I know of no Londoner who wants these games in Stretford. We don't have the money anymore to aid redevelopment of that area out of town.
- Jacqueline, Hampstead, London, 30/10/2008 16:37
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When asked about the council tax Olympic precept, Livingstone, risibly, talked about the games making a profit. There will be no profit for Londoners, only for the construction firms and some New Labour cronies, and no legacy apart from debt and monumental waste. We couldn't afford this Nulab vanity project in 2005, how much less can we afford it now?
- The Gene Genie, Croydon, 30/10/2008 15:30
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It is amazing that politicians would ever consider billions for the Olympics when the UK and the world is just trying to survive. Oh, wait ! It is your money they are spending. Well, that is ok. There is NEVER enough money for a politician as long as it is yours. Why do we put up with it?
- Rucksu, Nanning, China, 30/10/2008 15:02
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Who are these Londoners who think there will be a "legacy"? Nobody believes it. Everything will have cracked and broken long before the Olympics are over. The "legacy" will be a few wild, wind swept and derelict acres, which might come in useful for post apocalyptic film set, but nothing more.
- Jilly, London, England, 30/10/2008 13:38
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"LONDONERS are 'sorely' at risk of missing out on a lasting sporting legacy from the 2012 Olympics"
Of course we are, by the time they've finished fleecing us to pay for them no one will have any money left to buy a ticket.
- Bob, Cheam, 30/10/2008 13:05
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The only legacy Londoners will be left with from these games are going to be humiliation and debt.
- Squiz, Islington, 30/10/2008 13:02
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What legacy-nothing will be built on time and it will all be tied up in years of litigation-it will be wembley 2 on a massive scale.There will be no private sector financing so Londoners will have to pay for aforementioned litigation.No pool-swim in the thames.half built stadium (half marathon anyone).A joke but then in line with every other NuLab project
- A Moreno, luxembourg, 30/10/2008 12:22
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Hey, gotta have games to take people's minds of the money, no?
- Chris - Your Nemesis, LA - USA, 30/10/2008 12:04
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2012. London really needs to benefit from the Olympic games, and London, is a unique term, many think it means a city, but London actually means people and community, it is a word that transcends a place, it covers an emotion, a feeling and a connection.
Sir Michael Lyons, Head of the BBC Trust, went to school in Stratford, though hard work and dedication he has achieved a lot, the work he did on the Lyons Inquiry was excellent, the work he did at various Local Authority's stands as some of the best management of these bodies.
If any person should be involved in the delivery of the Olympics to London, it is he.
I accept he was a member of the Labour party and resigned upon taking the BBC role, but all parties know from the work in the Lyon Inquiry that he is above all fair regardless of political view.
For a successful Olympics for London, the solution might lay in one appointment.
- John Kirby, Crouch End, Islington., 30/10/2008 11:47
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I think Londoners are more concerned about the financial implications than the 'sporting legacy' from these games.
- Steve, London, 30/10/2008 10:55
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