APPENDIX 6
Memorandum submitted by Mr John Bicourt,
John Bicourt Associates
In any consideration of Crystal Palace as the
preferred London site for a World Athletic Championships, it can
be seen that any investment to raise the stadium to the required
standard and capacity is and was always better justified than
the Picketts Lock project due to its far lower cost, its position,
long established international athletics history, other sport,
entertainment and mass public use, together with its far greater
continuing and potential long term value to London and the immediately
surrounding communities and counties. Picketts Lock would have
been a very expensive "one off" event only and would
have been mothballed shortly afterwards. Crystal Palace will be
used by various interests throughout each year for as long as
it can stand—that justifies it.
WORLD ATHLETICS
CHAMPIONSHIPS 2005, LONDON
With the (very predictable) demise of Wembley
and now Picketts Lock, as a so-called legacy for British Athletics,
London and the nation have not only lost yet another prestigious
global sporting event but through lack of foresight and understanding
by those responsible we are as a country internationally embarrassed
and discredited.
Unless those responsible wake up and act quickly
to re-establish London's award of the World Athletics Championships
for 2005 we will have severely damaged, for a very long time,
any opportunity for a global sporting event to come again to these
shores.
The proposal by the government for the Championships
to be transferred to Sheffield is quite definitely doomed because
it is abundantly clear that the IAAF will not countenance any
other city in the UK other than the one originally awarded the
Championships.
This government, Sport England and UK Athletics
seem not to accept the condition implicit in the IAAF award that
London and only London will retain the 2005 World Athletic Championships
for the UK. It is, therefore, fruitless to imagine (especially
after last weekend's well publicised embarrassing approaches by
Richard Caborn to the IAAF President, Lamine Diack) that the Championships
can possibly be moved to Sheffield. They may be allowed to bid
after 25 November along with other contenders, but the public
needn't hold its breath.
I pointed out in a letter, over a year ago,
to the then Culture Secretary, Chris Smith, that Picketts Lock
was never going to succeed for all the reasons now apparent. Further,
that unless another London venue was put forward in time for the
Championships confirmation deadline (25 November) then Berlin
or Brussels, having both offered their cities, would be handed
the event once the Picketts Lock project was finally recognised
to be another costly Dome, badly situated and incapable of justifying
its existence after the Championships. It was inevitable that
it would be abandoned by the government as it now has been, despite
the election promises!
What is staring everyone in the face is that
the only realistic alternative for retaining the 2005 World Athletics
Championship (short of demolishing the Dome)* is Crystal Palace.
A venue wholly acceptable to the IAAF providing that the necessary
standards of facility are guaranteed to be completed. The government
has a responsibility not to evade this solution.
Patrick Carter's independent report for Sport
England did consider an unrealistic, over-ambitious bid earlier
this year by Bromley Council (the owners of the site) proposing
Crystal Palace Stadium which at the time was rejected (but not
necessarily for substantiated, valid reasons in principle). Nonetheless,
a newly revised bid should be immediately invited from Bromley
together with the already proposed co-operation of the adjoining
boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth and Southwark, all of whom have a
great deal to offer the Championships and their respective communities
as a consequence of a successful enterprise.
Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, has been
the home of British international athletics for the last 37 years.
Incomparably situated in 200 acres of beautiful historic (and
sportingly historic) parkland high above the pollution of the
City of London. Over the years it has staged every major athletic
event in Britain (barring the heavily criticised World Student
Games held in Sheffield). It has hosted the World Cup and the
Europa Cup Final. Each year it boasts the British International
and IAAF Grand Prix (the very successful showpiece for British
Athletics) and countless other sports and other major events plus
a twice yearly pop concert attended by over 40,000 spectators.
Even the Pope held audience in the stadium in front of 40,000
one summer Sunday. Of course, now the stadium and facilities are
"tired" and in need of renewing and modernising but
that is already happening everywhere around in the Park and with
the other Sport England facilities (except for the stadium!?).
With the will of all parties involved and the
finance promised by the government a new state-of-the-art,
multi-purpose international stadium with a capacity for 40,000
can be achieved on the same footprint as the existing stadium
and within an acceptable budget. Additionally, the magnificent
listed sports hall can easily house the media centre.
We brought London architects Ivan Starkin Associates
and renown structural engineers, Ove Arup and Partners together
to come up with a design over three years ago which was featured
in the London Evening Standard at the time. We put proposals to
the then Sports Minister, Tony Banks (who never even replied)
despite all his "guff" in the press about saving Crystal
Palace. We also met with Bromley Council's Director of Leisure,
Robbie Stoakes, who despite sceptical initial interest consistently
blocked proposals for the redevelopment of the stadium citing
parking and infrastructure as the problem, but then decided to
propose (hypocritically and quite unrealistically) a 100,000 seater
stadium for a "one-off 10 day event".
Crystal Palace Sports Centre and Park has several
main access points around its perimeter and criticisms concerning
exit times and parking are unfounded even with only the main entrance
in use. Wimbledon Tennis Championships (held in a similar radial
position to central London as Crystal Palace) is attended by approximately
40,000 each day on a site far smaller than here. Yet they are
incredibly successful at staging their event annually with
a transport infrastructure far inferior to Crystal Palace. None
of the major football stadiums in London or around the country
have spectator parking yet week in and week out hundreds of thousands
of soccer fans manage to attend their games. Even one of the most
highly successful and visitor enjoyable Olympic Games (Barcelona
'92) had no spectator parking facilities. We have specifically
stated in our proposals the importance of Crystal Palace as a
"green" site emphasising the available public transport
system.
Twenty one million pounds has been confirmed
already for the complete refurbishment of Sport England's facilities
here (but not to include the stadium). Six million pounds has
been spent on a nearly completed restoration and regeneration
of the surrounding parkland (with ample space for a temporary
warm up track). Four million pounds has been spent on the complete
restoration of the magnificent Victorian railway station that
is situated by the Park and is served with direct trains from
Victoria and London Bridge and comprehensively linked to the entire
National rail network including the London Underground and London's
airports at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead. A brand new 14-route
bus terminal has been built parallel to the top site. Most of
the town of Crystal Palace and its historic buildings are within
a conservation area and there are abundant restaurants, cafes
and pubs. Croydon and the adjoining boroughs and the main body
of London offer all required hotel, recreational, eating and shopping
facilities within reasonable reach.
The proper establishment of Crystal Palace as
the site for the 2005 World Championships in Athletics would be
welcomed by the IAAF and would give London the global sporting
event it was promised. (Istvan Gyulai the IAAF General Secretary
expressed his surprise to me last weekend during the IAAF World
half marathon championship in Bristol) that Crystal Palace was
not proposed and added that he personally always liked the venue).
This government has an obligation to the public
and to the sport to honour its promise to ensure the facility
for the World Championships is built. Hosting an inspirational
and globally watched World Championships, as the nation expected,
in one of the greatest capital cities in the world, is what the
country needs. This would be the real legacy for Britain's athletes
and the nation: the rebuilding of London's only major spectator
athletics stadium at a world famous venue and stunning Heritage
site.
UK Athletics also has a duty to honour its obligation
to the sport and the IAAF to do all in its power to pursue what
appears to be the only realistic avenue left and not to be brought
off with an offer from the government (not guaranteed of receiving
"compensation" money to "develop the grass roots",
a proposal which will be met with great scepticism by the sport
not least of all because of UK Athletics' already heavily funded
failure to date to halt the decline in our performance standards.
This country desperately needs the World Championships
to help create the impetus for improvement and motivation for
our existing and future aspiring international athletes, not a
compensatory amount of money from the government which many would
see as mainly going to further increase the growing number of
ineffectual posts within UK Athletics.
If we do finally fail to secure the Championships
(having been awarded them) then it is certain that the media will
continue for a long time to castigate those responsible.
* This government and its predecessor lost the
greatest ever opportunity for Britain to stage a World Cup Soccer
Championship and even an Olympic Games when it failed to grasp
the real potential for the Greenwich Millennium site and instead
erected an "amusement tent" that lasted only a year
at a cost to the public of over £1 billion pounds.
17 October 2001
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