Written evidence from the Minister for the Olympics (OLL 25) What set
We made
two pledges: first that the Olympics would change a generation of young people
through sport and second that they would transform Since
then, other legacy ambitions have arisen from our priority commitments. We want
London 2012 to be the most sustainable, environmentally friendly games ever. We
want to use the games to provide a shot in the arm for the economy, developing
skills and supporting business up and down the country. We want to deliver a
social and cultural legacy that provides young people across the All of these ambitions are important and are evident in our work. But it is against these two core promises that we must be judged. 1. Transforming a generation through sport We can only fulfil this commitment by addressing the following historic challenges: · Young people in state schools have had too little sport as part of their daily life and have had too little opportunity to compete · Sport facilities for young people needed to be improved · There has always been a significant drop off in participation at 16, when sport is no longer part of the school curriculum Meeting these challenges requires change at every level, in sports administration through to the development of world-class support for our elite athletes. The sports legacy of the 2012 Games will be a world-class sports system. More first-class sporting facilities; more clubs and coaches; more people of all ages playing sport; and sustained elite success.
In practice this means that by 2013: · one million more adults doing sport as part of two million more being physically active; · all 5-16 year olds in · an excellent community sport system and club structure; · Team GB in the top four at the
London Olympics and Paralympics GB second in the medal table, winning more
medals in more sports compared to
The scale of our task should not be underestimated. Delivering change on this scale would be a unique achievement for an Olympic host nation. Exchequer funding for sport has doubled since we won the Games in 2005 - from £313 million in the three years before compared to £580 million in the three years after. In 2003 the Government started a programme of transformation of school sport that will take a decade to fully achieve. By 2008, 90 per cent of children were taking part in two hours of PE and school sport a week, an increase from an estimated 25 per cent in 2002. Now, over half are taking part in three hours a week. Addressing the millions of 16 year olds who simply stop doing sport when they leave school requires radical thinking. Every 16- to 19-year-old is now being offered three hours of sport a week, in schools, colleges and community settings and the challenge is convert this into high take-up by 2013. A new approach to community sport is required. The Government has made free swimming available to 20 million people aged 16 and under or 60 and over, created a new role for sports governing bodies, making them partners in driving up sports participation, and has invested £0.5 billion of public money to fuel that drive. Finally, meeting our ambition requires an overhaul
of elite sport. The Government has refocused UK Sport as a body dedicated
solely to helping We have made a lot of progress. But a world-class sporting system cannot be built overnight. The effect of the near half a billion pounds of investment in community and school sport will not be truly known until after the games and that will be the time to judge success. These levels of funding would just not have happened without the Olympics as the catalyst. Local authorities and the National Lottery are also investing huge amounts of money in sports facilities, coaches and opportunities for people to play more sport, as well as supporting our elite athletes The results in At community level we are also seeing results. About 600,000 more people are now doing sport since 2006, and there were10.4million free swims in the first six months of the free swimming scheme. 2.
Regeneration of The five
boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Regeneration
of the heart of The
heart of these boroughs will be almost unrecognisable once the games are gone.
The Olympic site, once a remote low grade industrial area, will be transformed
into a new water city, which will play an increasing part in Across
the 2.5 kilometre square site, 250 buildings have been demolished, tunnels dug
to underground two 6km stretches of powerlines and other utilities improved and
upgraded, whilst some 1.5m cubic metres of contaminated soil has been excavated
and cleaned. This has set the foundations for us to begin to release the huge
potential value from the regeneration of the site and its surroundings and
provide a top quality waterside environment offering There will be 2,800 new homes in the Olympic Village, half of which will be affordable, and up to 10,000 more developed over time on the rest of the site. There
will be 8-10,000 new job opportunities in future business
development on the site, on top of an estimated 18,000 new jobs associated with
By 2012 over 350 apprentices will have worked on
the Olympic park. These people will have learnt new skills that can be used on
other major construction projects like Crossrail. A legacy for Because of the Olympics, brand new transport links are
making There will be new places to take part in sport. Five world class venues: the Olympic Stadium, the aquatics centre; velopark; Eton Manor (which will provide facilities for hockey, tennis and five a side football) and a multi-use sports hall. All serving an area with some of the lowest sports participation rates in the country. There will be new community facilities, including an education campus (Chobham Academy, comprising nursery, primary and secondary schools with 1,800 places for children aged 3-19 years old); and a polyclinic health centre, a one-stop primary health care centre. There will be new parks. Work is already underway
to create around 250 acres of parklands, on former industrial land, that will
provide a colourful and festival atmosphere for London 2012 and afterwards
become the largest new urban park in the This investment will help to unlock the large scale
private investment essential to the regeneration of wider east To deliver our vision for the Olympic site, the
Government and Greater London Assembly jointly established the Olympic Park
Legacy Company (OPLC) in May 2009. This dedicated company enables The Company will be responsible for overseeing the management arrangements for the Park and its sporting and non-sporting facilities after the Games. It will also work to secure the long term development of the Olympic Park as a high quality sustainable mixed community that provides lasting national and local sporting, cultural, educational and leisure benefit. Between now and 2012, the Company will work jointly with the Olympic Delivery Authority, LOCOG and other partners on detailed legacy plans for the venues and the management and maintenance of the Park, and will start to market the Park to investors. These will be core elements of the Company's first corporate plan to be published later this year. Today, the Olympics are providing a boost to the The CompeteFor brokerage system gives businesses across the country access to contracts in the London 2012 supply chains and signposts them to business support, such as Business Links, to ensure they are fit to supply not just London 2012, but other agencies responsible for the wider £150bn annual public procurement spend. Over 100,000 companies are registered on CompeteFor, of which 35,000 have received business support. We welcome this opportunity to define in the clearest terms the legacy promise and how our achievement will be judged. With these two core objectives we are showing legacy is at the heart of our ambitions for the 2012 Games. January 2010 |