Logistics and the Olympics

• WHEN the Olympics and Paralympics come to London in 2012, Westminster will play a crucially important role. Virtually all visitors to London at that time will either stay in or visit Westminster, including the whole of the International Olympic Committee. 
In addition to the sporting competitions we anticipate a large number of public events and we expect many of our cultural organisations will wish to stage special exhibitions.
Sending one member of staff to the Winter Olympics to see first hand the logistics involved and challenges we will face is vital to ensure we are as prepared as possible. 
While it may make for less interesting headlines, contrary to your report, 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 are determined to ensure that the Olympics are a great success, both for our residents and for the millions of visitors that we will welcome to our city.
But we do 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.
TIM OWEN
Commissioner of Events and Contingency Planning