APPENDIX 7
Letter from Mr Tony Lloyd MP
My constituency includes the Eastlands site
where the new City of Manchester Stadium is now being constructed
as part of a major "Sport City" complex. I am also chairman
of the All-Party Group which exists to promote the 2002 Commonwealth
Games although it is as a Manchester MP that I am primarily writing
to you.
I welcome the Committee's inquiry into the Wembley
National Stadium. I have seen the detailed evidence which Manchester
City Council has submitted and I wish to support those submissions.
The questions which the Council raise in those submissions (see
paragraph 15) seem to me to be absolutely crucial in both understanding
how the substantial failures in the Wembley project have arisen,
and in charting a new direction so that such failures should not
be repeated. I would urge the Committee to closely consider these
issues as part of its investigations.
It goes without saying that throughout Manchester,
including my own constituency, there is a strong sense of outrage
at the recent turn of events. People rightly want to know not
only how the Wembley project could have failed to deliver objectives
which were fundamental to the proposal, but how in such circumstances
it was possible to favour Wembley in the first place over the
claims of Manchester. This brings into sharp focus the role of
the Sports Council in supporting the schemes, the role of the
football authorities as well as the involvement of Ministers.
There is also an additional dimension to this
debate upon which I must comment. This concerns the pre-occupation
with London as the only place to host world-class or major events.
This is certainly the view of the football authorities, the BOA,
UK Athletics and the Sports Council, and these have, in my view,
distorted the debate considerably. Indeed, it was put to me that
the IAAF would only agree a World Athletics Championships if those
Championships were to be hosted in London, despite the fact that
the record of that organisation in awarding the Championships
to non-capital cities is second to none.
I thought the Committee would like to know that
unlike officials or Ministers I have spoken recently to the Secretary
General of the IAAF who confirmed to me that there was no bar
on a Manchester bid for the Championships and indeed such a bid
would be welcomed if it was supported by the National Governing
Body and government. This is far different from the advice which
has been placed before Ministers. I therefore question seriously
the judgment of national sporting organisations and their total
pre-occupation with London which has led the Secretary of State
to announce that he is looking at athletics alternatives only
in London. I hope the Committee will challenge this policy and
the many myths which underpin it.
National sports administrators have shown themselves
incapable of producing and delivering a balanced national policy
and it is an urgent national priority that we restore our image
and standing in sport internationally.
I wish the Committee well in its endeavours.
January 2000
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