Afternoon:
14°c
Here is an important announcement. In a major event, I will today unveil my new Column Legacy Masterplan Framework for a world-class, 21st-century Evening Standard column, a column aimed at inspiring all Londoners to Go For Gold! in 2012.
By no later than August 2136 (date subject to change), my powerful and dynamic vision will bring about the unparalleled transformation of Olympic-related newspaper commentary.
In a true expression of the spirit of the Games, it will totally regenerate grassroots column-writing, creating up to ten million new columnists (figure to be confirmed) in vibrant multimedia hubs throughout the Lower Lea Valley.
Using only the latest exemplar sustainable word-processing techniques, our columns will deliver a lasting legacy for London of year-round sunshine, free drinks and England winning the football.
Am I mean to mock this week's big Olympic "legacy masterplan" announcement? What kind of swine could be against "10,000 new jobs," "10,000 new homes of the highest quality in addition to those in the Olympic village," and "an educational offer matching the best in London?"
Who could be so rude as to dispute the statement by Tom Russell, the LDA's director of Olympic legacy, that "today we are able to show people exactly how the 2012 Games will regenerate one of the most deprived areas in the country?"
Well, I'm sorry to be a pitch invader, but the problem with these claims is that every single one is false. Nobody has been shown "exactly how" these promises will be kept. What we were shown on Tuesday was a few pictures.
If you search websites, you do find a document called "People and Places: A Framework for Consultation," which appears to be the detailed basis for this week's announcement. But the text, like the pictures, has clearly been computer-generated, suitable only for a quick game of bureaucratic jargon bingo, with points to be scored for every use of "one-stop shop," "world-class," and "exemplar sustainable community."
"World-class" is the kind of empty buzzword that used to bring Boris Johnson out in sniggers. In Tuesday's press release, presumably written by some GLA PR, he's actually quoted as saying it. What's happening to you, mate?
This language is there not just because bureaucrats can't write. It's there to bulk up something fundamentally lacking in substance. Because when you read the supposed hard detail of "People and Places," things dissolve even further.
The press release talks unequivocally of the Olympics' plans to "deliver 10,000 new jobs." But the detail document says merely that the Olympics "(itals)has the potential (unitals) to (itals) contribute up to (unitals) 10,000 new jobs" in the whole lower Lea Valley. Talk of an "educational offer matching the best in London" is untruthful, too: how can a start-up university possibly hope to be as good as, say, Imperial College?
When the Olympic village becomes a new neighbourhood, promises the detail document, it will have "the best, highest quality and safest natural environment in the city." Better than Richmond Park, a natural environment for centuries? It will have "some of the cleanest and healthiest air in London." Between a motorway and two trunk roads in the middle of the East End? What are they going to do, put a plastic bag over it?
Perhaps the greatest fantasy promise of all is that the Olympic site will become a centre of "intensive food production." I swear this is not a parody.
I'm not against aiming high. What I am against is the totally cynical manufacture of grand claims without the faintest whisper of how they might be delivered. Nearly four years after winning the Games, the route to delivery - of anything other than the sports venues and the space around them - is still nonexistent.
What was clearly intended, this week, as a signal that everything is going forward in fact showed the opposite: the current legacy promises, though still unrealistic, are a substantial retreat from earlier ones.
The previous Mayor promised 40,000 new homes and 50,000 new jobs. We also learned this week that nearly all hopes of finding a non-athletic use for the main stadium have faded. Perhaps growing turnips in it might work after all.
If housebuilding has virtually collapsed, if even the athletes' village itself will almost certainly end up 100% state-built, where are 10,000 extra homes going to come from? Like the 10,000 jobs, if they do come after 2012, they will be no more than a return to pre-recession levels.
There will, for sure, be genuinely new trains and a shopping centre - but these were happening anyway, and even London 2012 no longer claims credit for them.
The guiding principles of the London Olympics are pretence and denial. In the row over the Games' use of Greenwich Park, I was struck how smoothly the organisers promised that the park would not be damaged, something which they could not possibly know to be true. Not only has nothing like that ever been held at Greenwich before, but no impact studies have been done either.
These legacy promises, too, are the political equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and claiming you can't hear. But no Olympics, with the sole exception of Barcelona, has ever left a significant non-sporting legacy - and at some point, reality is bound to collide with the pretence.
Perhaps the political cost of that collision won't be too high. I've always believed the only things most people will care about in July 2012 are the two weeks of competition and the British medal count.
By then Labour will have lost office; even Boris will have fought his last mayoral election. But it could still be embarrassing if the white-elephant stadium comes to symbolise the "legacy Games."
It's time, I think, to own up to the empty space where legacy is supposed to be, to cut our losses, and concentrate all our efforts on grassroots sport, from more cycling to stopping developers building on playing fields.
That is the area where the London Olympics still could leave something real and valuable behind it.
Reader views (10)
The legacy of the equestrian events being held in Greenwich Park, if that daft idea is persisted with, would be:
a) a large bill for repairs
b) damage that could not be repaired
c) justifiable resentment from people denied access to their Park
d) justifiable resentment from people unable to travel round Greenwich or through the Blackwall Tunnel without serious delays
e) lost opportunities to leave a positive legacy of improved sporting facilities at existing equestrian sites
f) a very poor reputation for those involved with LOCOG and
g) wasted money at a time the country cannot afford it.
- Dermot Glynn, London, UK
Regarding the legacy for using Greenwich Park, this week's Horse & Hound, in support of the use of this venue, states, "IOC member and IEEF president, Princess Haya, believes that horse sports could be thrown out of the Olympics movement if a site other than Greenwich was used". You might have thought that the choice of Greenwich Park was based on providing a legacy of a whole new generation of urban riders. No, it was in response to political pressure.
- S D'Souza, London, UK
I'd rather have the World Cups of Rugby,cricket and football here as we already have the facilities and taxpayers won't be forced to fund a sporting event very few people take any interest in.
I bet no-one can remember more than 3/4 medal winners from the last games in China for example and who will watch most of the bents that go on in the Olympics?
- Mark, Watford
The word 'world class' is so overused it has lost its meaning. It would have been better to have invested the money in more meaningful projects.
- Mark Wright, Milan, Italy
Jc, the 'legacy' of the Millennium Dome being the most successful concert and entertainment venue in the world, attracting new office, retail and residential developments to a former windswept toxic peninsula? Yes, obviously 'how not to do it'.
- Darren Lewis, London
I hope the folks in charge looked at all the "legacies" of the Millennium Dome in their plans - through that there is already a template of "how not to do it" - but it seems that the same old mistakes are being made.
There is an obvious positive legacy to be had from the olympics which is more than bricks and mortar - but hey why should I put it in a blog and give it away for free - if the folks in charge haven't worked it out.......
- Jc, se1
An excellent article Mr. Gilligan. It was obvious from the outset that the cost was grossly under estimated and all but the committee knew that the cost would escalate through the roof. Like the dome, the stadium will be a white elephant. The legacy we are faced with is one of a debt of astronomic proportions - accrued by a group of people whose aim was to further inflate their own egos. Control should be taken from them and the spending focused on decent housing, schools and hospitals. Olympic sized stadia are of little benefit to those who live in deprived, run down areas. They would much prefer (and benefit from) better homes and schools.
- R.F., Yorks, UK
I have actually seen ground plans for the Olympic Park legacy and they look great.Why moan about brand new world class facilites,beautiful parkland and a new version of Canary Wharf at Stratford City.
- H.J.Jones, London UK
It is virtually impossible to stage an Olympics and leave a worthwhile legacy. One needs conspicuous consumption, the other needs the sensible use of resources, existing and new. An example of this is the main stadium, which clearly should be used for football and rugby afterwards. We did the French another massive favour when we "won" the event. It has become a wasteful caricature of its original concept, which was track and field - not too many millionaire tennis players in 1894.
- Tony Gee, London
The venue for the shooting events is typical of the lack of foresight by the planners. Spend £4M on existing facilities or £30M on a new range to be torn down after the Games, well that's a no-brainer. A central stadium which can't be used for anything else afterwards; there are echoes of the Millenium Dome here. A genuine legacy, and one which would justify the £20B cost of hosting the Games would provide long term jobs in Hackney and Newham. And the chances of Britain repeating its excellent medal successes in Bejing dwindle every time the Olympic Committee diverts funds from training to construction. But of course we will get a centre of "intensive food production", perhaps half of an acre of Macdonalds Burger King Southern Fries Pizza Hut and Spud-U-Like, a truly mouth watering prospect.
- Jeremiah, London
