Baroness Doocey
Main Page: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Baroness Doocey
My Lords, I have been involved in scrutinising the delivery of the Games and their legacy since London won the bid. I have also been the mayor’s representative on the Olympic Security Board, which scrutinises the security of the Games.
There is no question that there is much to celebrate—the fact that venues have been delivered on time and under budget; the fact that the new sporting facilities are a triumph of British design and engineering; and the fact that a large number of British companies have benefited from the £6 billion-worth of contracts. The creation of the Olympic Park, together with the transport upgrades, has given the area all the ingredients to attract visitors, tourists and new businesses for many years to come.
I entirely agree with the comments of my noble friend Lord Addington about the Paralympics, and great credit must go to LOCOG, which was determined that this time the Paralympics would not be the poor relation to the Olympics. LOCOG has done some excellent work to take the needs of disabled people on board, and schemes such as Ticketcare, where disabled people who are unable to attend the Games without a carer can now bring a companion, free of charge, will make a very great difference to the needs of large numbers of disabled people.
Another achievement is the planning for Olympic security. I have been extremely impressed by the calibre of the people from all government departments, the police and the military who serve on the Olympic Security Board. We can never be complacent about security, but I have absolutely no doubt that the safety of London is in the best possible hands.
There remain, however, some areas of concern. The sporting legacy is a mixture of success and failure. The good news is that Kate Hoey, as the mayor’s Commissioner for Sport, has raised £40 million to provide training for coaches and investment in sporting facilities. Some exceptionally good work is being done on the ground by organisations such as the London Youth Games, which has helped 2,000 disabled young people get into sport and enabled other young people to qualify as sports officials. On the other hand, the Government have been forced to abandon their target of using the Games to inspire 1 million people to play more sport—a target that was never realistic.
The promised legacy of jobs and training opportunities for local unemployed people is also questionable. Although the targets have been met, they were set far too low to be meaningful. Likewise, while many of the Olympic buildings have their long-term future use assured—I pay great tribute to the inspirational leadership and vision of the noble Baroness, Lady Ford, in all that she has done in this regard—the future of the main Olympic stadium and media centre nevertheless remains undecided. They must not be allowed to be a drain on taxpayers for many years to come.
There are also concerns about the long-term use of the Olympic park. After the Games, it will become a highly desirable place to live, and thousands of new homes and communities will be built. However, my concern is that no public money is allocated to fund this transformation Without this investment, private developers will be free to determine the fate of a site, and I believe that it runs the risk of becoming another Canary Wharf—a brilliant success commercially that benefits only wealthy newcomers and foreign investors at the expense of long-standing residents and local communities. This outcome would completely negate the original concept and vision, which was to provide mixed communities and facilities, with a substantial proportion of the homes and jobs going to local people.
There are also some lessons that we must learn for the future. The first concerns the allocation of tickets to the public. A ballot was undoubtedly the fairest way to sell them but, given that demand was bound to outstrip supply, there should have been a ceiling on the number of tickets each person was allowed to purchase.
It is also unjustifiable for 14,000 tickets to have been set aside for central and local government officials, while huge numbers of the public failed to get any tickets at all for the Games. If a ballot was the fairest way of selling tickets to the public, the same system should have been used for government officials.
LOCOG promised that a significant number of tickets would be affordable but has so far refused to publish details of the number of tickets sold at each price point for each event. This has resulted in widespread suspicion that too many tickets for key events have been allocated to VIPs at the expense of the public.
The final lesson we must learn concerns the behaviour of the International Olympic Committee. The IOC’s demands increase with each successive Games, yet, given the keen competition to host the Games, no one dares to challenge it. But how can “Zil lanes” for chauffeur-driven limousines, and traffic lights that automatically turn green as they approach, be justified when they result in gridlock for the rest of London? Sooner or later, some host city must have the courage to stand up to the IOC and say, “Enough is enough. We will happily treat you like honoured guests but we are not prepared to treat you like gods”.
The fact that the management of the Games has gone so well is due in no small measure to the exceptionally talented team of people who have been in charge right from the beginning. I have sometimes vehemently disagreed with some of their policies, but I have absolutely no doubt that they will produce the greatest Olympic and Paralympic Games ever staged.
So let us celebrate the extraordinary achievements of the past seven years. Let us rejoice that Britain has demonstrated to the world that it can deliver major construction projects successfully, on time and within budget—a powerful message at any time but especially in the current economic climate—but let us never forget the promised long-term legacy and let us do everything in our power to ensure that the legacy is honoured.