Mike Lee, communications director of London’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, told the London Assembly any profit London made from its Olympic bid could be put back into supporting sport at “grassroots” level.
He said Wednesday that London was the only candidate city to have a financial package in place.
London’s Mayor, Ken Livingstone, said he was sure the Games could be delivered on time and on budget.
But Tory assembly member Angie Bray said a 100 per cent overspend was possible and could cause Londoners 43 years of debt. She said, “given the experience of Athens and Sydney, a cost over-run of 100 per cent is very possible. That would leave Londoners paying for the Olympics for 43 years. That simply isn’t acceptable”.
Meanwhile, it seems that London’s bid is getting little support from Scotland and could damage London’s chances. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will be conducting a Mori poll after November to help judge the level of national support to host the Games in Britain for the first time since 1948.
Lee admitted, “the national figures would be much higher if you took out Scotland. The levels of support in Scotland are not great”.
But Scottish firms are already benefiting from the bid, with one firm publishing the bid’s candidature file, the blueprint of how the Games would be run, which is crucial to London’s bid.
Also, London hopes to promote its bid by hosting the Tour de France. A council report has revealed that Mayor Livingstone is backing a proposal to bring the first stage of the Tour de France to London and he is now in negotiations with race operators.
A spokesman for the Mayor said, “London is bidding to host the Grand Depart of the Tour de France and is keen to do so at the earliest possible opportunity. We are aware we could not do this before 2007 as the host of the 2006 race had been selected before we submitted our bid.
A decision on the Tour de France route is expected to be made by next fall.
