26 October 2001
Jowell said Prime Minister Tony Blair had backed her request for an inquiry into the best practice for bidding and managing sporting spectaculars such as the Olympics and the football World Cup.
She told the culture, media and sport select committee on October 23 that spending on major events should not go unchecked at the expense of grassroots support: 'Every stadium that overruns is money that is not being spent on our future sporting capital.'
Jowell added that the government would work alongside sporting bodies on a bid-by-bid basis, but argued that funds might be diverted into developing sporting success rather than building white elephants to host events.
'I think that when you stand at the top of the winners' podium you don't particularly mind which city you're in when you are draped in the Union Jack,' she said.
David Moorcroft, chief executive of UK Athletics, told Public Finance: 'We agree with the secretary of state that decisions should be strategy-led, not events-led, and welcome her commitment to grassroots sports. But we wish the government had been as decisive earlier.'
MPs were investigating the abandonment of the Picketts Lock stadium project in north London, which followed the decision not to rebuild Wembley stadium to host the 2005 World Athletics Championship.
They heard evidence from Moorcroft and Trevor Brooking, chairman of Sport England, the body responsible for co-ordinating sporting development in England.
The two former international sportsmen bemoaned the Byzantine processes that led to the almost certain loss of the championship as transport and accommodation problems pushed the projected cost of the Picketts Lock project over £100m.
Moorcroft described the relationship between government and the sporting governing bodies as 'fragmented and polarised'. He said: 'The worst element is that we don't work together as a whole. We are clear on the aims but we get bogged down in the process.'
Brooking warned of over-reliance on lottery money for sport events: 'You can't keep looking at that diminishing pot to bail you out. You need dedicated exchequer funding.'
PFoct2001
