Budget cuts will ruin 2012 legacy – claim 15/07/2010 |
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The British Government has been warned it is “throwing away” the London 2012 Olympics legacy by cutting sports budgets as part of its massive savings drive.
The full impact of the cuts on sport is still not clear but sports minister Hugh Robertson has admitted that community sport will take "a major hit" from the austerity measures being pursued by the Treasury.
As outlined by The Guardian, these will include:
• A new generation of school sport facilities, that would have been provided at a total cost of £6.05bn by the Building Schools for the Future programme, cancelled partway through by the education secretary, Michael Gove.
• Huge cuts to the £1bn local authorities spend on sport and recreation annually, all of which is discretionary spending.
• A £2bn cut to the total budget of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport by 2015.
• £65m lost due to the scrapping of free swimming for under 16s and over 60s, as well as the planned refurbishment of swimming pools that will not go ahead.
When London won the Games in 2005, a legacy of increased participation in sport was at the heart of its bid.
Labour's Andy Burnham – who as minister for culture, media and sport conceived the free swimming scheme in 2008 – accused the new Government of "lacking the courage" to stick with the programme.
"The Olympics represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the nation's habits and encourage more people to be physically active," he said. "Yet with these cuts, some for peanuts in terms of government spending, we will see the hollowing out of sport as in the Conservative 1980s, and the Olympic legacy being thrown away."
Robertson, the sports minister in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition Government, insists he is committed to that legacy but admits that the cuts to public spending will deeply affect community sport.
"This is a very difficult time and sport will take a major hit across the country," Robertson added. "Everything is overshadowed by the state of the economy and the budget deficit we inherited. I am doing everything in my power to mitigate it, and protect sport funding.
"I am doing what I can to ensure there is a legacy based on improving facilities, coaching and volunteers, and engaging people to take up sport.”
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