Barking Officials Join 2012 Wembley Row

16 Oct 2009 | tshego

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Following the agreement made between Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell and London Mayor Boris Johnson on making Wembley the 2012 venue for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics, officials from the London borough of Barking and Dagenham have criticised the ‘lack of transparency’ in the decision.

Jowell and Johnson had agreed that the two events should be moved to the Wembley to avoid building a £42m temporary venue in Barking. 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.

However, Chief Executive of Barking and Dagenham Council Rob Whiteman has claimed in an official statement that there has been misleading around costs.

‘The lack of transparency around venues’ cost is a cause for concern,’ the statement said. ‘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. 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.’

It went on to claim that there are ‘no legacy benefits’ to having events at Wembley.

Additionally, while officials had stated that the cost of having gymnastics and badminton at Wembley would save £20m, Whiteman insisted that hosting the sports at ‘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.’

Jowell had originally proposed to build a new venue in Barking, as it would be cheaper due to involvement of private investors, and would leave a lasting legacy for the town. However, these private investors were not guaranteed and upgrading Wembley for the Games has proved cheaper than first thought.