Meeting documents

1.1 The run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games offers a unique opportunity to generate long term benefits for communities, sporting and cultural organisations and for business. National and regional structures have been put in place to lead and co-ordinate the work required to prepare for the games and these bodies will work with county (i.e. sub-regionally) based bodies bidding to be involved.

1.2 The West of England Working Group has been formed to represent key partner organisations and lead on the work required to maximise the benefits of the Games to the sub-region.

1.3 This paper sets out the outline plan to maximise the opportunities presented by 2012 in the period leading up to the event and to ensure that the sub-region achieves lasting legacy community and economic benefits.

1.4 This paper also sets out the necessary infrastructure which will provide the platform to seize these opportunities and proposes how such an approach can be resourced.

2.1.1 The Working Group adopts the outline approach set out in this paper

3.1 The announcement that London will host the Olympics in 2012 offers a unique opportunity for the sub-region. The area is ideally positioned to secure commercial advantage and lasting benefits from the Olympics with a cultural, sporting and economic offering which can attract funding, global media attention and international athletes.

3.2 There is strong competition from other counties and regions so representatives of relevant organisations across the sub-region have acted swiftly to establish an approach that will promote the interests of the area in a concerted, co-ordinated way.

4.1 The objectives of the West of England Working Group for the 2012 Games are set out at Appendix A ("A Sub-regional Vision for the Olympic Legacy"). In order that these objectives are achieved, the Working Group has identified three key areas for action:

4.2 A detailed and costed project plan and action plans to achieve these objectives will be developed once the necessary resources are in place.

5.1 The whole nation is geared to the ambitious Olympics 2012 project. It will require 70,000 volunteers alone to stage the opening and closing ceremonies and manage people flows.

5.2 There is a need to select, develop and train a generation of young people. This will create a pyramid of ability which will yield the champions of the future. The nation has set a target to double the number of high performance athletes of European, Commonwealth or Olympic standard. The sub-region has an enviable record of achievement in this area. Appendix B sets out some specific benefits of attracting national teams to the area.

5.3 The development of sport could have a lasting impact upon the sub-region. In order to yield the high performance athletes of the future, there will be selection and coaching programmes involving schools, clubs and the workplace to create a pyramid of ability.

5.4 The sub-region is well positioned (in geographical and infrastructure terms) to provide training facilities which will allow visiting teams to become acclimatised during the five preceding years commencing 2007. Before then large numbers of advisors will evaluate each regional venue offering sports training facilities.

5.5 The economic impact to the region is difficult to assess but the Training and Holding Camp on the Gold Coast claim that the region benefited from the Sydney Olympics by the following amounts up to March 2005:

5.6 No single sports facility in the UK can hope to host a complete Olympic team or groups of Olympic teams in training because of the need to cope with 28 sports, many requiring specialist venues. Nonetheless facilities within the sub-region could, with investment, strive for a substantial share of this.

5.7 Hotels, caterers, retailers and local businesses will all benefit so it will be vital that the business sector is fully involved.

5.8 With a suitable framework, adequate resources and careful planning, benefits to the sub-region will include:

6.9 The Working Group will appoint staff who will deliver the work to maximise the benefits to the sub-region and report to the Chief Executive of the West of England Strategic Partnership. This may involve either directly employing staff or seconding staff from the partner organisations. A detailed Project Plan will be developed and agreed by the Working Group.

6.11 The role of these groups will be to identify and exploit future prospects. These are likely to include:

7.2 There will be a need to employ a team (initially two people) who can carry out the work associated with delivering the aspirations of the sub-region. Costs will be incurred and it is essential (before further progress is made) to establish a budget and funding for this work. Not all partners will be in a position to fund this initiative but it is anticipated that, wherever possible, costs will be minimised through each partner represented on the Working Group assisting with delivering plans through the provision of "in kind" services.

7.3 An outline estimate of costs only is possible until the necessary staff are employed to work up detailed plans. It is also not possible to be fully clear about sources of funding until the resources are in place to establish what might be made available by various bodies.

7.4 It is proposed that the costs of this work are met by the three sectors forming the partnership (i.e. local authorities, businesses and universities).

7.5 The scale of the investment will need to increase as 2012 approaches and is estimated as follows for the first 3 years:

Year 1 (2006/07) £198K

Year 2 (2007/08) £214K

Year 3 (2008/09) £230K

£k £k £k

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8.2 The costs shown in section (1) are all items which will require funding. Those items in section (2), funded by the universities and businesses, include a number of items which can be supplied within existing resources (i.e. they include "marginal" costs).

8.3 The West of England Working Group will be asked to decide the allocation of costs in (1), recognising that the greatest economic benefits to the sub-region will fall to Bristol and Bath whilst the sporting legacy benefits will be more evenly felt. It is proposed to recommend therefore that costs be met as follows:

8.4 It is proposed that all funds in (1) will be administered by the Chief Executive of the West of England Partnership who will also be responsible for the management of directly employed staff.

8.5 There is a need to agree what proportion of the costs incurred in section (2) require additional funding and how these will be contributed to by the remaining partners.

The West of England Working Group for the 2012 Games is working with the South West Regional Team to develop realistic and coherent plans to maximise the opportunities offered by the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, both nationally and internationally.

The run up to 2012 offers a unique opportunity to generate long term benefits for all communities, sporting and cultural organisations and for business.

We possess strong public, private and voluntary sectors and have a demonstrable track record of effective partnership working which will be used to deliver a sustainable programme.

1. Increased participation in sport improves health, reduces crime and improves community spirit:

We will promote the value of activity at all levels, through schools programmes, volunteer opportunities and cultural festivals and seek to do what is required to improve standards of sporting performance.

2. Enormous demand for goods and services will be generated by 2012.

We will ensure business is in the best position to take advantage of all the available opportunities.

3. People will be drawn from around the world to the Games.

We will develop an attractive portfolio drawing attention to the many attributes which make the West of England such a tremendous place to live, visit, work and do business and which offers the scope to stage major sporting, cultural and commercial events.

Improvements: The Group will seek to secure inward investment (government, lottery) to improve school sports equipment, facilities and coaching / leaders / volunteer infrastructure.

Equipment used at the games will be re-distributed around the whole of the UK - for free, for community sports clubs and elite training facilities.

Inclusion: Sports participation crosses the social divide and will help to integrate disadvantaged communities with people from more affluent districts

Behaviour: By involving more young people in sporting activity there is the potential to reduce vandalism and anti-social behaviour.

Economic Development

Tourism: Tourism is a key industry in the area. With the investment, the world-class facilities available will attract national and global press coverage of the sub-region. The increased media exposure will boost tourism and could create a new tourist attraction - international celebrity athletes training in the locality.

Tourism 2012 Charter: Aims to influence the 180,000 tourism related companies to drive up standards, improve disabled access, improve worker skills for all tourism attractions that will play a part in 2012. (First Group attended the launch meeting with the PM).

Support for local business: By boosting tourism, various sectors will gain from increased visitor numbers: hotels, restaurants, caterers, printers.

Job creation / retention: By targeting and hosting training camps for international teams the region will create social and economic links which could lead to other future commercial interactions.