Culture Minister Tessa Jowell said there was a belief that if London did not bid for the 2012 Olympics, then Great Britain might never stage the Games again. She said that the planned site near Stratford, east London, might not be available after 2012 because it would have already been redeveloped.
Jowell said that choices had to be made on whether to spend an estimated 2.5 billion pounds on hosting the Games or investing that public money in health and education.
Jowell told Julie Kirkbride, a member of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, “there is a judgment that in east London you have the synergy between the space required for an Olympic development and the regeneration opportunity. It is also likely that after 2012 the sites will be developed for other purposes”.
Meanwhile, UK Sport Chairman Sir Rodney Walker has called on the British government to redistribute lottery cash to create a special Olympic fund.
Walker has insisted that even a slight redistribution of lottery funds among the six good causes could result in an addition one billion pounds for sport over 10 years, cash that could be used to help fund an Olympics.
He said, “all sports councils are concerned about the underwriting costs that would be required should a bid for the 2010 Olympic Games success. We are unanimous in our views that any funding required should not divert investment away from our core work of supporting participation initiatives and our elite athletes.
“However, by diverting a small proportion of the total amount of lottery funding made available for all good causes, over 10 years the government could create a new pool of funding – an extra one billion pounds. This could be used to help stage the Olympic Games, thereby solving many of the current concerns over where the money will come from”.
