Winter Olympics trip will just be fact-finding, says events tsar
Assistant director defends trip to Vancouver in a letter to West End Extra
City Hall’s embattled “events tsar” Tim Owen has defended his decision to fly to Canada for the Winter Olympics in what has been criticised as a “jolly”.
In a letter to this newspaper Mr Owen said he would not be breaking off to watch any events during the four-day visit, rather he was going to learn about the “stresses” placed on an Olympic city in preparation for the London Games in 2012. He said everything possible had been done to deliver value for money to Westminster taxpayers.
The assistant director of events, filming and contingency planning will jet off to Vancouver in February at a cost of £3,300, a decision that has appalled residents in a week finance bosses announced a round of savage cuts to its voluntary sector budget.
None of the so-called Olympic boroughs in east London has accepted the International Olympic Committee invitation, citing expense as the stumbling block.
It is the first time Mr Owen has commented since the furore erupted three weeks ago.
He writes: “Sending one member of staff to the Winter Olympics to see first-hand the logistics involved and challenged we will face is vital to ensure we are as prepared as possible. I am not flying business class and I will not be watching the bobsleigh or any other sporting events for that matter, no tickets for these are included in the visit. I am scheduled to study and learn from the city operations and security teams in Canada.
“No one from Westminster travelled to Beijing, where there were delegations from many boroughs and public organisations.
“We did not feel our cities were close enough matched to merit it and we believe we have more to learn from Vancouver. We have a responsibility to make sure that we fully understand the stresses placed on an Olympic city, and this is an important fact-finding business trip with the costs and timings kept to the absolute minimum in order to deliver as much value for money for the taxpayer as possible.”
Many politicians and residents contest the parallels between London and Vancouver and the games themselves, given the Winter Olympics is a much smaller scale event.
Last week London Assembly member Murad Qureshi called the trip “completely pointless”.
JAMIE WELHAM