Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and London mayor Boris Johnson agreed this week that the two events should be moved to the Wembley Arena to avoid building a £42 million temporary venue in Barking and save £20 million. Johnson also agreed to drop his campaign to move the shooting events from the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich to a cheaper alternative in Barking.
“The lack of transparency around venues’ cost is a cause for concern. London 2012 has been promoted as regenerating East London and it is extremely disappointing that our borough at the heart of East London will not host an event or, at present, receive the legacy benefits from this,” said Chief Executive of Barking and Dagenham Council Rob Whiteman in an official statement.
“We know, from various websites that the cost of the shooting event at Woolwich will cost between £43 million to £48 million, with no legacy compared to £26 million at Barking Riverside which would also provide a permanent shooting venue in Barking as a legacy.
“We are told that the temporary arena for Badminton and Rhythmic Gymnastics at Greenwich would have cost between £20 million to £42 million and to move the sports to Wembley Arena, a venue deemed not suitable for Boxing as it is too far for the athletes to travel, will cost between £8 million to £24 million. Barking Riverside would cost £14m and provide legacy facilities for sport, regeneration, health, employment and education, with the arena situated for at least 10 years next to a new school. There are no legacy benefits from Wembley.”
Jowell had originally proposed to build a new venue in Barking claiming it would be cheaper thanks to the involvement of private investors, and would leave a lasting legacy for the town. However private funding promised for the Barking development was not guaranteed and upgrading Wembley for the Games has proved cheaper than first thought.
