Sports Minister Richard Caborn will announce the intention to encourage a full public debate on whether London should bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, at a conference in Manchester Friday.
This follows a report by Arup consultants that puts the cost of staging an Olympics at between two billion and three billion pounds, not including changes to the transport infrastructure.
Caborn said, “we will publish the report when Parliament returns. It is important that we have a full and open debate of all the issues so that people know how the three partners will decide on the pros and cons of a bid”.
The British government, the British Olympic Association and the Greater London Authority will be meeting to make a final decision.
Caborn wants all relevant sporting bodies to have their say, and there has been a surge of support for a bid following the successful Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
According to the Arup report, just making an Olympic bid will cost more than 15 million pounds.
Caborn warns the Government must think carefully about whether money could be better spent elsewhere.
Once the Arup report is published, the Government will begin talks with the private sector to see how companies could help a bid with both moral and financial support.
