Supplementary Memorandum submitted by
Sport England
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Sport England submitted its main evidence
to the Select Committee's inquiry into the National Athletics
Stadium at Picketts Lock in the first week of October. This second
submission provides the Committee with an update of events following
the recent decision of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media
and Sport that the Government could no longer support Picketts
Lock as a venue for a National Athletics Centre to host the World
Athletics Championships in 2005.
2. PICKETTS LOCK
CONSIDERED NOT
VIABLE
2.1 As our previous submission explained,
Sport England's Council and Lottery Panel had not been able to
approve an application it had received for lottery funding from
a consortium comprising UK Athletics, the London Borough of Enfield
and Lee Valley Regional Park to build a National Athletics Stadium
at Picketts Lock. The application did not address many of our
standard criteria against which all lottery applications are assessed,
including eligibility, viability, value for money and legacy for
sport.
2.2 With the support of the Secretary of
State for Culture, Media and Sport, we commissioned an independent
report into the Picketts Lock project by Patrick Carter. This
report considered the additional support Picketts Lock would require
from the Government were it to become a viable venue for a World
Athletics Championships in 2005, it also considered alternative
options for staging the Championships should Picketts Lock prove
an unsustainable option.
2.3 On 4 October, following consultation
with relevant parties, the Secretary of State announced that after
careful consideration of Patrick Carter's report, the Government
had concluded that it could not justifiably provide the additional
financial support the Picketts Lock proposals required.
2.4 Sport England endorses this view and
our Chairman issued the following statement with regard to the
application for lottery funding we had received to build a National
Athletics Centre at Picketts Lock:
"Sport England has tried hard to make this
project work, which is why we provided funding towards feasibility
studies and the independent report into outstanding issues raised
in the assessment of the lottery application. Unfortunately some
key questions and gaps in the application have not been able to
be bridged. Following the Government's decision that it is unable
to provide additional support for the project at Picketts Lock,
we will not be able to approve the application for funding. I
pay tribute to the hard work of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
and UK Athletics on the project, but Sport England has a duty
to use its lottery fund in the best way, and to assess all our
applications against standard criteria of long term viability,
value for money, legacy for the community and satisfactory business
plans. Unfortunately, the applicants could not assure ourselves
or Patrick Carter that the Picketts Lock project was sustainable."
Trevor Brooking, Chair—Sport England, 4
October 2001
3. SHEFFIELD
PROPOSED FOR
2005
3.1 The Secretary of State has proposed
to the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) that
Sheffield replace Picketts Lock as the venue for the World Athletics
Championships in 2005. This decision was based on the evaluation
work Patrick Carter had undertaken to establish the location that
would best be able to provide a good value and good quality home
for the Championships.
3.2 The Government considers Sheffield a
more viable option as major issues faced at Picketts Lock such
as planning consent, athletes' accommodation and transport are
already in place. As an existing stadium, the costs of upgrading
the Don Valley to world class status would be considerably less
than those for a new build stadium.
3.3 Sport England has maintained its support
for efforts to host the World Athletics Championships in England.
We have continued to earmark within our lottery fund a budget
allocation that will be made available towards a viable application
to construct facilities for a World Athletics Championships in
Sheffield.
3.4 The IAAF has announced that, due to
its constitution, it cannot automatically relocate the Championships
from London to Sheffield. It will now have to re-open the bidding
process which will take place at the end of November. The IAAF
has stated that if Sheffield wishes to host the World Athletics
Championships, it will have to re-enter the bidding process against
other Cities. The formal decision to bid is one for UK Athletics,
with support from Sheffield City Council and the Government. Sport
England has made it clear that it will continue to offer support
to the costs of staging the Championships, should they be held
at Sheffield.
4. A LASTING
LEGACY FOR
UK ATHLETICS
4.1 It has long been the strategy of UK
Athletics that hosting a successful World Athletics Championships
only be undertaken as a means to the end of creating a lasting
legacy for the sport. That is why the proposal at Picketts Lock
was based upon establishing a legacy stadium for athletics as
well as a high performance centre.
4.2 In light of the decision with regard
to Picketts Lock, Sport England has already begun discussions
with UK Athletics and the Government to consider the long term
strategy the sport wishes to develop and of the appropriate support
we can offer towards this.
15 October 2001
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