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Cllr Catherine West |
Olympic planners ‘slow off the mark’
Town Hall £60,000 for co-ordinator ‘a bit mean’
ISLINGTON’S plans for the 2012 London Olympic Games were described as “almost too little, too late” by Labour opposition leader Councillor Catherine West this week.
She said that the council had set aside £60,000 in the current financial year and most of that would pay for the new Olympic co-ordinator being appointed in May.
“It’s a bit mean when you think the Olympics should have been prioritised a lot earlier,” Cllr West added. “Four years is not very long when you have only just worked out a strategy. ”
Cllr West wants to know whether the streets will be clean in time for the Olympics, and if the council will recruit sufficient volunteers to look after visitors. She added: “What are we doing about the Paralympics? We’ve got one of the highest populations of people with disabilities in London.”
She has called for a visitors’ centre at King’s Cross, and a brochure offering a guide to the borough. “We have so much history, sport and culture to offer, but the Lib Dems don’t seem to know how it will be promoted,” she said.
“We have a museum. It used to be at the Town Hall. Now it’s down in Finsbury. Is it being updated? How will visitors find it?”
Cllr West welcomed the programme of sports events in schools and estates being launched this summer. She said Labour had been requesting this for two years.
Former Olympic athletes will give advice to children, and experts will offer coaching in Olympic sports.
The ruling Lib Dems hope the Olympics co-ordinator will persuade spectators to visit the borough, known for attractions such as Emirates stadium and Sadler’s Wells theatre, as well as being the home of the “chattering classes”.
The co-ordinator’s job will be to whip up enthusiasm for the Games in Stratford – only eight minutes away by shuttle train from King’s Cross – as well as pointing out the millions of pounds worth of commercial opportunities the Olympics will bring.
The council is to improve traffic-locked Pentonville Road and hopes to attract Olympic visitors to Angel shops, restaurants and hotels.
The Emirates stadium and the soon-to-be-refurbished Sobell Centre could become training bases for Olympic athletes, according to the council’s Lib Dem executive member for leisure, Councillor Ruth Polling.
She added: “With all our facilities, cultural centres and universities, we will have a lot to offer visitors and sports people.
“On top of that I believe Islington is one of the friendliest boroughs in London.”
The first of a series of meetings planned for the run-up to the Games was held yesterday (Thursday) by Islington Chamber of Commerce and Finsbury Park Business Forum.
Forum manager Doreen Henry said there was already expertise and interest locally in the Games.
She added: “In Fonthill Road, which is becoming a major centre for fashion, outlets are offering to provide Olympic uniforms. And in Blackstock Road we have a cornucopia of wonderful Middle Eastern restaurants and cake shops which might be interested in offering a small catering facility for the Games.”
Islington Chamber of Commerce manager Andrew Mortimer believes the Games are a marvellous opportunity to spread wealth and opportunity across the borough.
“We have some fantastically run businesses in Islington, including many established for a long time,” he said. |
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