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Comment: Making the 2012 Olympics deliver
Evening Standard8 Jul 2008
Three years ago this week, London won its bid to host the 2012 Olympics. But in that time, while work on the Olympic park has proceeded well, there has also been rising public anxiety about costs and the legacy of the Games. Those will be just some of the issues up for argument at tonight's debate hosted by this newspaper, entitled Will the Olympics be good for London? Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and chairman of the London Organising Committee, Lord Coe, along with the Mayor's sports commissioner, Kate Hoey MP, will answer their critics, including panel members Andrew Gilligan and Will Self.
First among public concerns is cost. In her article in this paper today, Ms Jowell reiterates that there is no more money than the £9.3 billion budgeted. But that budget has already almost quadrupled from the £2.4 million in the original bid; how can we be sure that it will not overrun again, leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill? After all, Ms Jowell may not be in office when that time comes. There is also the question of London's money. If money is saved by cutting back on parts of the project, then London should get back a proportionate share of the £300 million it is contributing to the contingency fund, as demanded last month by Mayor Boris Johnson.
Second, there is the question of the Games' sporting legacy. It is still unclear how some venues will be used by grassroots sport: there are still no potential tenants or buyers confirmed for the venues, most importantly the main stadium. Just as important, the Games were supposed to have a legacy in getting many people, especially children, involved in sport, yet to date the main impact of the Olympics has been to take money away from grassroots sport, by diverting Lottery money. Organisers and ministers have yet to explain how they will make the sporting legacy a reality.
The 2012 Games promise vast potential benefits to London in terms of regeneration. But Londoners will hold the Government and the organisers to account to make sure that the capital gets what it was promised, for the agreed cost.
