London 2012 Olympic Legacy

The Olympic Park Legacy Company is responsible for the future use of the Olympic Park

The London 2012 Olympic bid included bid chairman Lord Coe placing a pledge to use the events to inspire two million people to take up sport and physical activity at the heart of the bid.^[1] Legacy includes sporting, economic, cultural, and environmental benefits, and aims to ensure that no "white elephants" are created by the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics. ^[2]

The Olympic Delivery Authority stated legacy use and community regeneration are being "locked-in" to the planning and designing of Olympic and Paralympic venues and infrastructure, and cited the Olympic Park Aquatics Centre and Olympic and Paralympic sailing facilities in Weymouth as examples showing "a clear focus on sporting, economic, social, and environmental legacy".^[3]

The government published its legacy plans via the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Legacy Promises document, published in 2007 (which is now out of date). The five promises were:^[4]

• Make the UK a world-leading sporting nation
• Transform the heart of East London
• Inspire a generation of young people to take part in local volunteering, cultural, and physical activity
• Make the Olympic Park a blueprint for sustainable living
• Demonstrate the UK is a creative, inclusive, and welcoming place to live in, visit, and for business

The Legacy Action Plan to implement the promises was published on 6 June 2008.^[5] With comments that the legacy has been published several years earlier than previous Olympics and critics claiming the plan lacks the detail needed to implement an effective legacy.^[1] The GLA has a legacy commitments document published in 2007.

The six London boroughs hosting the Games – Barking and Dagenham, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest – published their plans for legacy in 2009. This was outlined in the Strategic Regeneration Framework which included the objective that by 2030, the communities hosting the Games would have the same social and economic life chances as at least the London average.^[6] This is the principle of Convergence and guides their joint working on legacy.

The Strategic Regeneration Framework brings together evidence that shows the six Hosts Boroughs constitute a significant area of deprivation, among the worst in England, and demonstrates a persistent gap in social outcomes such as health, life expectancy, educational achievement, housing and crime compared to the London average. It proposes action on a number of key indicators which is required to turn around more than a century of deprivation. The Olympics is a vital catalyst but is not sufficient in isolation to achieve widespread socio-economic regeneration.

The Strategic Regeneration Framework and Convergence make real the promise in the original bid document that “By staging the Games in this part of the city, the most enduring legacy of the Olympics will be the regeneration of an entire community for the direct benefit of everyone who lives there”.^[7] The principle of Convergence is included in the Mayor of London’s spatial development strategy, known as The London Plan 2011.^[8]

The Olympic Park Legacy Company was set up in 2009 and its Board members were named in November 2009.^[9]

In December 2010, the Government published a new Legacy plan, which sets out the legacy vision for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and the detailed plans underpinning it. The Government is committed to making the most of the Games for the whole of the UK. It has identified four areas to focus on: harnessing the UK’s passion for sport to increase grassroots participation, particularly by young people, and to encourage the whole population to be more physically active; exploiting to the full the opportunities for economic growth offered by hosting the Games; promoting community engagement and achieving participation across all groups in society through the Games; and ensuring that the Olympic Park can be developed after the Games as one of the principal drivers of regeneration in East London.^[10]

Widespread criticism over the so-called 'flat pack Olympics' has led to British Shooting to apply for a judicial review into the issue.

Concerns around the Olympics Legacy continues with a report published summarising a concern that the Olympics won't keep its Legacy vowz.^[11]

See also

• Legacy Trust UK
• Summer 2012 torch relay

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Kelso, Paul (2008-06-06). "Games key legacy will be free swimming for all". The Guardian (London: www.guardian.co.uk). http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jun/06/olympicgames2012.olympics2012. Retrieved 2008-06-06. 
2. ^ "Olympic legacy: lowering the bar again". building.co.uk. 2008-10-07. http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=667&storycode=3126844&c=1. Retrieved 2008-11-11. 
3. ^ "London 2012 - Legacy in the lead". LOCOG. www.london2012.com. 2007-01-30. http://www.london2012.com/news/media-releases/2007-01/london-2012-legacy-in-the-lead.php. Retrieved 2008-01-12. 
4. ^ "Our Promise for 2012: How the UK will benefit from the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games". DCMS. www.dcms.gov.uk. 2007-06-24. http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2100/449/1/Ourpromise2012Forword.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-15. 
5. ^ "Tessa Jowell launches action plan for London 2012 legacy". TheyWorkForYou. www.theyworkforyou.com. 2008-06-06. http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2008-06-06a.76WS.1&m=1555. Retrieved 2008-06-06. 
6. ^ http://www.hackney.gov.uk/srf.htm
7. ^ http://www.london2012.com/documents/candidate-files/theme-1-olympic-games-concept-and-legacy.pdf
8. ^ http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/The%20London%20Plan%202011.pdf
9. ^ Hill, Dave (2009-11-15). "Olympic Park Legacy Company Board Members Named". Guardian (London: www.guardian.com). http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblog/2009/nov/12/olympic-park-legacy-company-board-members-named. Retrieved 2009-11-15. 
10. ^ "Legacy From the Games". London: www.culture.gov.uk. 2011-02-14. http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/DCMS_GOE_annual_report_february_2011.pdf. Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
11. ^ "London 2012 will not be able to keep promise to young". BBC (London: www.bbc.co.uk). 2011-05-21. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13485209. Retrieved 2011-05-21.