Olympic stadium will not be white elephant after London 2012 says Lord Coe

[richard]

The London 2012 chairman, Lord Coe, has been forced to reject claims that the Olympic stadium will become a white elephant after the Games, after a deal with West Ham United collapsed.

It was Coe who made the promise to the International Olympic Committee in 2005 that the stadium would have an athletics legacy and he has campaigned passionately for the track to be retained.

But following the collapse of a deal with West Ham and Newham council for the east London club to move in following the Games amid prolonged legal challenges, there have been renewed concerns over the viability of the stadium with an athletics track.

"It was the right decision to cut through the potential for ongoing legal challenge here and, worse than that, ongoing legal challenge that was taxpayer-fuelled," said Coe, appearing before the London Assembly.

"It is very important that we maintain a commitment to an Olympic legacy and to a mix of tenancies in there."

Assembly member John Briggs put it to Coe that there was "a high risk" of the stadium becoming a white elephant if there was not a fundamental rethink of the options.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company and the government have signalled their determination to hold a quick-fire tender process to find a football club prepared to move in on a tenancy basis, with the stadium remaining in public ownership.

The most likely outcome is that the taxpayer will have to foot the bill to convert the 80,000-seat stadium into a 60,000 venue suitable for both football and athletics, with West Ham paying an annual rent and UK Athletics entitled to 21 days use per year.

However, Coe was challenged over whether the stadium would ever be full for athletics meetings. Those fears will deepen if UK Athletics fails in a bid to host the 2017 world championships in London on 11 November.

Coe said that the stadium would be filled for "every session" of the world championships if London is chosen by the International Association of Athletics Federations, but also pointed to the success of domestic meetings. He said the Olympic Stadium would be full for Diamond League meetings, currently held back-to-back over two nights at Crystal Palace.

"If we had a larger venue we would fill that venue. You only have to go to Crystal Palace for any of those Diamond League meetings to know how many people turn up on spec hoping to get tickets," he said.

"London is the only city that stages two of those back-to-back. We not only sell out for every one of those meetings but would also probably be able to sell five times that number of tickets. There is no lack of demand for top-class track and field in this country but clearly sitting alongside the use of the stadium for local events, English schools championships and the plethora of events and other competitions."

Coe said he had been right to campaign for the retention of track and field within a mixed use stadium. "Let's not run away with the idea track and field is a sport that is not supported. It's a popular sport with an extensive network of clubs in this country and is central to broader policy aims of public health. I am a doughty defender of my sport and I think it is the right mix."

Also appearing before the Assembly, the London organising committee chief executive Paul Deighton admitted that its existing budget of £262m for security within venues – the only element provided for by public funds – would not be enough. He said that money would have to be found from contingency funds within the overall public funding package of £9.3bn to pay for extra guards around perimeter fences and within the venues.

Locog is finalising with the Metropolitan police and the Home Office what the final number should be. The original estimate of 10,000 is likely to end up well below the final total, with the use of the armed forces and the territorial army one option under consideration to bridge the gap.


Source
Owen Gibson
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