Examination of Witnesses (Questions 60
- 61)
TUESDAY 14 JANUARY 2003
MR MAX
CALLER, MR
NORMAN TURNER,
MR RAY
GERLACH AND
MR SIMON
WHITE
60. That is very encouraging. It has been a
problem in other areas that there has not been that kind of agreement.
I would have thought, from the Government's point of view, because
they very much support the idea that Ministers have to be actively
involved, they are going to want the surety to proceed on the
basis that if they are going to take a decision they can pursue
that decision without other people having the ability to countermand
it. I think that is a very encouraging move. What, in the end,
will consultation mean? What will that mean to your residents?
(Mr White) The first thing is that the context of
any arrangement will be a whole package, so we would be looking
for some of the things that Max started off the session with:
commitments about investment in infrastructure, proper arrangements
about legacy and an absolute guarantee that we were not going
to be blighting developments which are dear to us and which are
going to happen in any case. So assuming all of those three things
happen, the context for the kind of arrangements which colleagues
have been talking about, I think, is one that is politically deliverable.
Our expertise will be in helping the Mayor, the LDA, or whoever
is taking the lead, to engage with the communities, which we already
have very rich communication with, and be in a position to lead
those communities. So we would see ourselves as midwives in that
rather happy way. So you cannot isolate that from an overall package,
which we would expect to have bought into very, very shortly.
(Mr Turner) There has been work in some authorities
already involving the Local Strategic Partnership to make sure
the consultation and the engagement is across sector and across
parties. The Local Strategic Partnership in Newham, for example,
in its cultural strategy, which was adopted in 2000, at that time,
had included in its work plan a commitment to work with partners,
neighbours, the GLA and others to try and attract major events
such as the Olympic Games to the Lower Lea Valley in general.
So there has been a level of engagement—6,000 community
consultations—in that particular exercise, but that would
be something, obviously, in the next stage that we would all need
to notch up a gear.
Chairman
61. Gentlemen, thank you very much indeed. Regardless
of whether there is a bid, regardless of whether the bid is successful,
regardless of whether the Games are held, as a Member for a deprived
area I wish your boroughs every success in regeneration.
(Mr Turner) Thank you very much.
|
