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Olympics 'needs a tsar or legacy will be chaos'
By David Harrison,Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated:11:56pm BST 07/04/2007
Gordon Brown has been urged to appoint an Olympics "tsar" amid fears that plans for the regeneration of east London are in chaos because of a lack of leadership.
An artist's impression of the 2012 Olympic Games site in east London
Senior business leaders have written to the Chancellor calling for a meeting to discuss the creation of a Cabinet-level "tsar" to get the plans for tens of thousands of new homes and jobs back on track.
Baroness Valentine,the chief executive of London First,which campaigns to make London the world's leading city for business,said:"We are startled by the Government's lack of longer-term vision for the regeneration legacy.There needs to be an immediate shift in focus."
The letter to the Chancellor says there is a "real danger" that the preoccupation with building the Olympic venues and staging a successful Games will cause the legacy aspect to "fall to the bottom of the pile".
The letter,seen by The Sunday Telegraph,was signed by the chairmen of London First,the London Chamber of Commerce and the CBI London.
advertisementIn a stark warning to Mr Brown,it says:"Too many agencies and government departments are currently involved with no clear leadership."
The business leaders say that "a key rationale" for bidding for the Olympics was to "generate benefit for London,increasing its profile as a world city and accelerating regeneration in the Thames Gateway".
This needs "high-level leadership," they say.The Olympic Delivery Authority and the 2012 Organising Committee were both given "senior experienced business leaders" but there was no equivalent leadership for "the third leg of the stool - the 2012 legacy".
The letter adds:"There is a real danger that when the chips are down the last objective will fall to the bottom of the pile; hence our advocacy of the need for senior leadership of this critical aspect."
Baroness Valentine,a crossbench peer,said:"We are looking for an Olympics tsar,a senior Cabinet-level minister who can pull the whole thing together and balance the competing and potentially conflicting interests of different Government departments and other agencies.
"This is a fantastic,once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform some of the most deprived areas in the UK.We must not waste that opportunity.We must make sure that the legacy is not limited to a 'golden nugget' area covered by the Olympic park but spreads out to the surrounding areas."
The life peer said the problems had been exacerbated by the delay in appointing a chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority after the resignation in October of the American Jack Lemley who claimed that rising costs and political infighting meant the venues would not be delivered on time or on budget.
An announcement on who will get the job is expected "shortly".The candidates include Sir Roy McNulty,the acting chairman,Peter Rogers of Stanhope developers,and Sir Stuart Lipton,the former head of Stanhope.
Olympics 'needs a tsar or legacy will be chaos'
By David Harrison,Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated:11:56pm BST 07/04/2007
Gordon Brown has been urged to appoint an Olympics "tsar" amid fears that plans for the regeneration of east London are in chaos because of a lack of leadership.
An artist's impression of the 2012 Olympic Games site in east London
Senior business leaders have written to the Chancellor calling for a meeting to discuss the creation of a Cabinet-level "tsar" to get the plans for tens of thousands of new homes and jobs back on track.
Baroness Valentine,the chief executive of London First,which campaigns to make London the world's leading city for business,said:"We are startled by the Government's lack of longer-term vision for the regeneration legacy.There needs to be an immediate shift in focus."
The letter to the Chancellor says there is a "real danger" that the preoccupation with building the Olympic venues and staging a successful Games will cause the legacy aspect to "fall to the bottom of the pile".
The letter,seen by The Sunday Telegraph,was signed by the chairmen of London First,the London Chamber of Commerce and the CBI London.
advertisementIn a stark warning to Mr Brown,it says:"Too many agencies and government departments are currently involved with no clear leadership."
The business leaders say that "a key rationale" for bidding for the Olympics was to "generate benefit for London,increasing its profile as a world city and accelerating regeneration in the Thames Gateway".
This needs "high-level leadership," they say.The Olympic Delivery Authority and the 2012 Organising Committee were both given "senior experienced business leaders" but there was no equivalent leadership for "the third leg of the stool - the 2012 legacy".
The letter adds:"There is a real danger that when the chips are down the last objective will fall to the bottom of the pile; hence our advocacy of the need for senior leadership of this critical aspect."
Baroness Valentine,a crossbench peer,said:"We are looking for an Olympics tsar,a senior Cabinet-level minister who can pull the whole thing together and balance the competing and potentially conflicting interests of different Government departments and other agencies.
"This is a fantastic,once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform some of the most deprived areas in the UK.We must not waste that opportunity.We must make sure that the legacy is not limited to a 'golden nugget' area covered by the Olympic park but spreads out to the surrounding areas."
The life peer said the problems had been exacerbated by the delay in appointing a chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority after the resignation in October of the American Jack Lemley who claimed that rising costs and political infighting meant the venues would not be delivered on time or on budget.
An announcement on who will get the job is expected "shortly".The candidates include Sir Roy McNulty,the acting chairman,Peter Rogers of Stanhope developers,and Sir Stuart Lipton,the former head of Stanhope.