Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Minutes of Evidence


Submission from the Mayor of London and London Development Agency (LDA)

SUMMARY

  1.  The Mayor of London and the London Development Agency (LDA) have key roles to play in delivering the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and its legacy for London. Preparations for the 2012 Games have continued apace since the Committee's last inquiry on this subject. This submission will focus on the contribution of the Mayor and the LDA to the areas being scrutinised on this occasion, in particular sports venue legacy and sports participation in London.

  2.  A lasting legacy of benefits for London and Londoners is central to the Mayor's vision for London 2012. The legacy benefits will accrue before, during and after the 2012 Games, and already Londoners are starting to see this. We are bringing back into public use an area of the city that has been largely derelict for decades, and ensuring that the infrastructure is in place for the Games and also the community that will live and work in this area after 2012. In addition to transforming the heart of the East End, we are working to ensure the legacy of the Games will be increased opportunities for all Londoners, from sport and culture to jobs and skills. The Mayor will publish his legacy commitments to Londoners early in the New Year.

INTRODUCTION

  3.  The Mayor of London, exercising the functions of the Greater London Authority (GLA), has a central role in the delivery of the London 2012 Olympics, including:

    —    co-chairing the Olympic Board with the Minister for the Olympics;

    —    part-funding the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) as set out in the funding package;

    —    as a signatory to the Host City contract with the International Olympic Committee; and

    —    leading the delivery of the legacy of the 2012 Games and benefits for London.

  4.  The LDA also has a number of specific responsibilities relating to the 2012 Games: assembling and remediating the land needed to develop the Olympic Park; acting as the interim legacy body; and developing and delivering programmes to deliver social and economic benefits for Londoners from the Games.

  5.  The Mayor is pleased with the excellent progress that has been made to deliver the Games, progress commended by the International Olympic Committee. Over the past year, for example, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has signed three major sponsors, and the LDA has been able to hand over possession of the Olympic site to the ODA, as required.

PROGRESS IN PREPARING VENUES, BOTH WITHIN THE OLYMPIC PARK AND ELSEWHERE

  6.  The LDA has played a central role in securing ownership of the Olympic site, allowing the ODA to take forward venue construction. In July, the LDA transferred ownership of the Olympic site to the ODA. As a result, 100% of the required land is in public sector control. Despite the complexity of the land assembly programme—the site contained some 2200 land interests—Vacant Possession has been implemented smoothly. By the end of July 2007, the LDA had supported 193 businesses in successfully moving from the site, safeguarding 98% of the 4750 jobs.

DEVELOPMENTS IN SECURING FUNDING FOR ALL ASPECTS OF THE GAMES

  7.  The revised funding package for the Olympic and Paralympic Games was announced to Parliament in March 2007. The contribution from council tax payers remains at £625 million, the level agreed in 2003. Without any further increase in council tax beyond that already committed, or any increase in transport fares to fund the Olympics, the Mayor has agreed to make a further £300 million available to help meet Olympic costs over the lifetime of the programme.

  8.  The Mayor and the Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP agreed a revised Memorandum of Understanding in June this year, to put in place arrangements to enable the National Lottery and future regeneration needs of the local area to benefit from the returns on the investment being made.

LEGACY USE OF VENUES

  9.  The Olympic Board has identified the LDA as the interim legacy body for the 2012 Games. In performing this central legacy role, the LDA has responsibility for:

    —    acting as the legacy client and establishing a robust post Games legacy structure for the future management of the parklands and venues;

    —    delivering the legacy master plan for the Games through a legacy master planning framework process;

    —    establishing and delivering a development strategy for the land and legacy;

    —    leading the legacy and business planning process for the Olympic parkland and venues; and

    —    securing the socio-economic and sporting benefits arising from the Games.

  10.  In taking forward these functions, the LDA is working closely with key partners, including Government, the ODA, the UDC, the local boroughs and the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.

  11.  Legacy was at the heart of London's bid and has been an integral part of the planning for the Games; for example legacy has been built into the designs for the Park and venues. The LDA is working closely with the ODA to ensure a seamless shift from Olympic to legacy mode.

  12.  The LDA's legacy planning is well advanced compared to other host cities. EDAW, on behalf of the LDA, are leading work to ensure the Olympic Masterplan links seamlessly with the Legacy Master Framework (LMF), which will be the planning framework for the legacy Park. The procurement of a Masterplanning Team for the LMF is already underway. A shortlist of six candidates was announced on 16 October 2007. Tender assessments are underway, and we are on track to make an appointment in January 2008. The LMF will be completed early in 2009.

OLYMPIC PARKLAND AND VENUES LEGACY AND BUSINESS PLANNING

  13.  The LDA has been working closely with the ODA and other stakeholders on the detailed design of the venues to ensure legacy considerations are incorporated from the outset. There has been significant work to date on outline business and legacy planning for the major permanent sporting venues on the Olympic Park. This has helped to determine the mix and type of sports venues that will be retained after the Games.

  14.  Grant Thornton and Partners have been appointed to develop an outline business plan for the transformation and longer-term management of the Olympic site after the Games. The objectives of the business plan will be to provide a robust funding and delivery model for the Park and venues in legacy, and to ensure their use is viable and sustainable on a long-term basis.

  15.  Team working across all partners is critical to the development and delivery of a successful LMF. The LDA recently hosted a successful event to mark the first in a series of joint partner activities aimed at drawing together a joint statement of intent and important information for the LMF brief.

  16.  The planned retained sporting venues on the Olympic Park post-2012 are:

    —    The Olympic Stadium—after the Games, the Stadium will be scaled down to a 25,000-seat venue, to deliver a sustainable all-year round sporting and community legacy. A number of legacy uses are being considered to ensure that the stadium is a "living stadium" accessible to local people and communities. Detailed work on the legacy of the stadium continues, including discussions with a number of potential partners about how best to deliver this. The Stadium will be capable of staging international athletics events, premier league rugby and non-premiership football. We remain committed to athletics being at the heart of the Stadium after the Games, as we promised the IOC.

    —    The Aquatics Centre—in legacy, we will retain two 50m swimming pools and a 25m competition diving pool, allowing a mix of elite and community use. The seating capacity will be reduced to 2,500, although it will also be possible to add a further 1,000 seats to accommodate a major future international swimming event such as the European Championships. Proposals are also being considered for a leisure pool and health and fitness facility, in a separate, but linked, building. These proposals emerged from partnership working with the local boroughs and the local need they identified for such a facility.

    —    The Velopark—the Velopark will bring together all the cycle sport disciplines in a single hub. On the basis of our outline legacy planning, and the needs of cycling as a sport, the velodrome will retain the 6,000 spectator seats required for Games time. A BMX circuit will be located adjacent to the velodrome, and a one-mile road cycle circuit, cycle speedway track and mountain bike course will also be added. This is being developed in close consultation with end users and the national governing body of British Cycling.

    —    Handball Arena (Arena 3)—this will be a permanent 6,000-seat venue, that will be retained in situ in legacy on the western side of the Park, to the south of the media centre. After the Games, the arena will be converted, providing an indoor multi-sport centre, with a flexible seating arrangement. This will serve as a training and competition venue, and regional home for a range of indoor minority grassroots sports.

    —    Eton Manor—Hockey/Tennis/Indoor Football—The current planned legacy facilities for the Eton Manor site are: a Hockey Centre (two competition standard pitches with up to 5,000 seating around one of the pitches), a tennis centre (indoor and outdoor courts) and space for an indoor five-a-side commercial football centre, which could have strong links to the adjacent Hackney Marshes, creating a strong northern sporting cluster to the park.

IMPACT OF THE GAMES ON GRASSROOTS PARTICIPATION IN SPORT, BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER THE GAMES

  17.  In addition to acting as interim legacy client for the Olympic Park, the LDA is working with partners to ensure a wider sporting legacy from the 2012 Games.[1] Already Londoners are starting to see the legacy benefits for sport of hosting the 2012 Games. We are also linking our work on venue legacy with work to widen participation in sport: for example by developing clubs so that they have the capacity to make best use of Olympic facilities after 2012.

  18.  The LDA are already investing to provide increased opportunities for Londoners. Programmes include:

    —    Summer of Sport has been successfully running for the past two years from 2006-07. An investment of £500k per annum from the LDA from 2008 will help to develop this programme and ensure a more sustainable increase in participation.

    —    Winter of Sport—working with Youth Sport Trust to establish over 50 new after school sports clubs and with London Sports Forum to offer coaching events and programmes for disabled Londoners.

    —    Sport technical officials programme—working with National Governing Bodies of Sport, Sport England and Skills Active to ensure that sports officials reflect the diversity of London.

    —    London Leisure Academy—providing sport and leisure skills training through a "one-stop shop". The LDA is supporting the development of the London regional hub, which will coordinate the work of the Academy centres of excellence, focussing on coaching, leisure management, health and fitness and stewarding.

    —    Inclusive and Active—a disability sport action plan for London. The LDA is contributing £500k to support the training of disabled people to become sports coaches.

  19.  Excluding the Olympic Park and venues, the LDA has already committed over £20 million to sport provision. New programmes that are being developed will increase this by at least another £1.5 million per annum. We have made, and are continuing to make, a significant investment in Crystal Palace. Combined with our contribution of £2.1 million towards the Hillingdon pool, this has ensured that there will be two Olympic-sized pools operating in London prior to the London 2012 Games.

  20.  On behalf of the Mayor, the LDA is commissioning the development of a Sports Legacy Plan for London, which will bring together the collective efforts of the GLA/LDA, Sport England, Youth Sports Trust, UK Sport, London Councils, the Pro-Active partnerships and other key delivery agents.

  21.  In addition we are putting in place measures to monitor the effect of hosting the Olympic Games on sports participation. New monitoring tools and evaluation frameworks will provide the first real impact assessment of an Olympic and Paralympic Games.

November 2007





1   In particular, the ODA, LOCOG, Sport England, Youth Sports Trust, Skills Active, and London Councils. Back


 
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