London’s business leaders joined forces Tuesday, to back London’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
Colin Stanbridge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce said: “there is a growing feeling in the business community that British success at Athens has put us back in the race and to have so many medallists on the streets of London can only give us yet more momentum. London has increasingly made its case for hosting the Games in 2012. The vast majority of businesses are aware of the advantages and would do anything they can to help the bid”.
But Conservative spokesman Angie Bray told the London Telegraph that an Olympic Games in London could cost Londoners an extra 20 pounds a year each for the next 43 years and freeze charity payouts from the National Lottery for two years. Bray said if the Games run over budget as spectacularly as they did in Sydney and Athens, an extra 4.6 billion pounds will have to be paid out of London council tax and the National Lottery.
She added that an Olympics would be good for Britain but it is a vast undertaking and when it comes to major projects – such as Wembley, the Jubilee Line and the Channel Tunnel – Britain has an atrocious record of delivering on budget.
London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone called the figures pure invention and said there will not be cost overruns from the Games. He insisted that the maximum cost will be 38 pence a week for 10 years.
The Government has estimated that the London Games will cost 4.674 billion pounds and make 2.45 billion pounds in revenue, while Mayor Livingstone’s budget, which the Conservatives described as a “motherhood and apple pie scenario” estimates the cost at 3.6 billion pounds. Livingstone said that if the Games do go over budget Londoners will not be asked to foot the bill, even though the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has indicated that they will.
Meanwhile, the newspaper reports that the bid has not captured the imagination of residents, with a majority opposing it, according to a poll by YouGov. The newspaper says there has also been a problem with transport, since Crossrail project to east London is now not expected to be finished on time.
