Don't Back the Bid!

Police to probe 2014 Games land deals

2012-01-05T14:00:00.002Z

From inside the games:

By Tom Degun

January 4 - Police are set to look at a series of multi-million pound land deals in Glasgow which were bought in order to build venues for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the city.

The police probe comes following a complaint by Scottish National Party member James Dornan, who represents the city's Cathcart constituency.

Dornan wants to establish whether public money for the Commonwealth Games was misused in some deals.

In one case, Mayfair property developer Charles Price was paid £17 million ($26 million/€20 million) for land needed for the Athletes' Village (pictured above) which had cost him just £8 million ($12.5 million/€9.5 million).

Glasgow City Council justified the pay-out on the basis that it had commissioned an independent valuation of the land from surveying firm Colliers CRE.

The Council had special compulsory purchase powers granted by the Scottish Government which were designed to protect the public purse during negotiations over land needed for the Commonwealth Games.

However, the authority chose not to use them against Price's company.

Another deal saw former Rangers owner Sir David Murray's (pictured) company paid £5.1 million ($7.2 million/€6.1 million) for the site of the former Dalmarnock Power Station which had been bought for just £375,000 ($585,000/€449,457) in 2005.

The site was derelict, contaminated by a cocktail of metals and had been used as a dump by fly tippers but it was sold by Sir David's company for nearly a £5 million ($7 million/€6 million) profit to the publicly-funded urban regeneration company Clyde Gateway after an independent valuation had been carried out by a surveying firm.

A third deal saw council-owned land given away free to a property developer whose directors gave money to the Labour party, only to be bought back three years later for £1.3 million ($1.9 million/€1.56 million) after an independent valuation had been carried out by a surveying firm.

Dornan asked for land deals to be investigated in October last year by writing to Strathclyde chief constable Stephen House and Scotland's auditor general Robert Black.

"We can confirm that a complaint has been received and enquiries are on-going," a spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said.

It is not suggested any of the sellers were involved in criminal behaviour but the buyers could have questions to answer.

"I am very encouraged by the police response to my complaint," said Dornan.

"Clearly, the council tax payers of Glasgow have to be confident that public money is being spent wisely.

"Any suggestion to the contrary - that public money is not being spent wisely - has to be fully investigated."

Contact the writer of this story at tom.degun@insidethegames.biz

Evening Times: "Sound of silence over 2014 Games inquiry"

2011-08-18T16:13:00.001+01:00

Sound of silence over 2014 Games inquiry

Stewart Paterson

18 Aug 2011

Glasgow councillors are demanding further answers over a report into whether 2014 Commonwealth Games bosses were properly scrutinised in the wake of the resignation of shamed former chief executive John Scott.

Councillors on Glasgow City Council’s finance scrutiny committee had requested a report into how the council monitors the activities of 2014 Ltd, the organising committee for Glasgow hosting the event.

But when the SNP and Labour councillors were given details of the 11-page report they refused to ask questions and noted the report in silence.

The report stated scrutiny procedures in place “were robust”. But Kenneth Elder, the Liberal Democrat chairman of the committee, later said he wanted reassurance procedures were properly followed.

Mr Scott quit in July, sparking controversy when he refused to reveal the exact details of his misdemeanour, only saying he failed to register an offer from a potential supplier.

Concerns were raised over the monitoring of the firm run by a board of members from the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and the Commonwealth Games Scotland.

Following Mr Scott’s resignation the conveners of the council’s three scrutiny committees met, and decided the finance and audit scrutiny committee should probe the governance arrangements at 2014.

At a meeting of the committee, Carole Forrest, assistant director of corporate services, delivered the report.

She said: “The loss of a chief executive is a key issue for any organisation. In this situation, however, the effects of the loss were mitigated by the appointment of the chief operating officer acting chief executive.

“This has ensured there is continuity in the preparations for delivery of the Games pending the appointment of a new chief executive.”

But Mr Elder asked for more clarification. After the meeting he said: “It is a good point whether you can take silence as consent. I want to be assured the procedures have been carried out and the council is adhering to its own policies.”

Ms Forrest said the highest level of monitoring was by the Strategic Group, which is chaired by First Minister Alex Salmond and includes city council leader Gordon Matheson.

Dr Christopher Mason, leader of the LibDems’ group on the council, said he and his fellow scrutiny committee conveners felt there were serious questions about the way Glasgow 2014 was being run.

A correspondent writes

2011-06-28T17:00:00.000+01:00

From one of our regular correspondents:

To the Scottish Government

Owing to the current addiction to neoliberalism on the part of Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government, a number of "pie-in-the-sky" schemes have been promoted by both entities.

"No one" could see the financial collapse of 2008 coming (this according to the very people who didn't see it coming!), just as "no one" could see that invading Iraq would be a disaster (except, of course, for the millions who marched against the war before it started).

Obviously in both cases, the experts were 100% wrong. For any of us to move forward in a productive way, we need to admit when we're wrong and learn from it.

We are now, due to the reckless actions of the former GCC leader Steven Purcell, lumbered with the costly mega-event known as the Commonwealth Games. One of the supposed benefits (which will not trickle down to the city's residents) is tourism. I think it's worthwhile to look at the report of Ronald Jackson, regarding a CPO obtained by GCC against several local businesses. In the report, Mr Jackson states:

"On balance, given the commitment and involvement of Jumeirah, the detailed appraisal
work on both cost and value that has been carried out and the evidence set out in
paragraphs 10-14 above, I consider that it is much more likely than not that the necessary
funding would be available for the scheme. Having regard to my findings in this and the
three preceding paragraphs I attach little weight to the objectors’ development appraisal
(RBH 7), prefer the evidence of the council and its witnesses and conclude that the weight
of evidence shows that the scheme would be financially viable."

Now consider today's news:

"Jumeirah Group’s plans to operate a luxury hotel in Scotland have been thrown into disarray after the developer behind the $200m project went into administration."

Perhaps only in Glasgow could the city unveil an "International Financial Services District" after the collapse of international finance, but then again nonsensical development plans have scarred cities across the UK and USA.

What about actually listening to the people who live in the city?

Sincerely

XXXXXXXXXXX

Commonwealth Games Chief quits over "gift"

2011-06-28T16:57:00.001+01:00

From the Daily Record:

Glasgow Commonwealth Games chief quits over gift

Jun 28 2011 Chris Musson

Gift 'mistake' costs Scott his 2014 post

POLICE are to question Commonwealth Games chiefs after the head of Glasgow 2014 quit for failing to declare a gift.

John Scott admitted he had accepted an "offer" from a "potential supplier" and failed to declare it.

Games organisers Glasgow 2014 Ltd announced the 59-year-old had resigned from his £179,000-a-year post.

But they refused to reveal details of what he took.

They would only say it was an "error of judgment" and a "mistake".

Last night, Strathclyde Police said no investigation has been launched into the scandal.

However, it is understood police will speak to the board, possibly today, and the situation could change.

A senior insider at the force said: "We will be asking questions about this."

Lord Robert Smith, chairman of the Glasgow 2014 board, announced Scott's resignation after an emergency meeting yesterday.

Insiders say the details of the gift or gratuity were not disclosed to the meeting and are only known to Lord Smith and a close circle.

In a statement, Lord Smith said: "John Scott has made an important contribution to the plannin g of what we believe will be an outstanding Games.

"The board has accepted his resignation for an error of judgment he made in accepting, and not declaring, an offer from one of Glasgow 2014's potential suppliers, in breach of the organising committee's strict gifts and gratuities policy.

"I know he deeply regrets this mistake and this was a job that he loved. It is a measure of the man that he has put the values and reputation of the organising committee ahead of his own at this time.

"John was largely responsible for setting the committee's high standards of governance and he felt he could not continue in his role as chief executive under the circumstances."

Commonwealth Games minister Shona Robison said: "John Scott has made a valuable contribution as chief executive of the organising committee.

"However, the reputation and integrity of our Games is paramount and, to that end, I believe Mr Scott has done the right and principled thing in stepping down."

Gordon Arthur, a board member and the spokesman for Glasgow 2014, said Scott informed Lord Smith of the offer late last week.

The Scottish government and Glasgow City Council - the two bodies funding the Games - were told of Scott's resignation yesterday afternoon.

David Grevemberg, the current chief operating officer, has taken over as acting chief executive.

Scott took up his post in 2008. Before that, he was a key adviser on the London 2012 Olympic bid.

Evicted gran goes back to see flat pulled down

2011-05-05T17:36:00.002+01:00

Evicted gran returns to see her flat being pulled down

Margaret Jaconelli returns to her old home with grandson Luca

Paul Drury

5 May 2011

Commonwealth Games site battler Margaret Jaconelli returned to her old home in Glasgow’s East End … to watch it being demolished.

Glasgow City Council carried out its promise to pull down the sandstone built flats in Ardenlea Street, Dalmarnock to make way for a service area for the 2014 sporting extravaganza.

There was no sign of the heavy security or the 100 police officers who helped evict Margaret and her family 42 days ago following a legal battle in which the family refused to move from the site which will be next to the Athletes’ Village.

Margaret, husband Jack and members of her family turned up for a final farewell to their home of 35 years.

Margaret, 53 said: “I am homeless and penniless thanks to a hard-hearted local authority.

“They said they would paying me £90,000 for my property though I’ve not had so much as a letter from the council.

“All I’m walking away with today is memories.”

She criticised Glasgow City Council for refusing to accept a mediation proposal put forward by the SNP government in Holyrood.

The Jaconellis and their four sons, daughter-in-law and grandson Luca, eight months, spent around 30 minutes in the street during a workman’s tea-break.

Then, after one final look back, they walked out of Ardenlea Street for the last time.

The doomed sandstone tenement still had the message written on the front: ‘Davina – We’re No Being Evicted’. It was the only remaining sign of the family’s sit-in campaign.

The wrecking crew then moved in to turn the building into rubble.

It was the only home Margaret’s son Aaron, 17, had known and he said: “I can remember happy days here, playing in the street.

“Now it’s all gone, I’m gutted.”

A council spokesman said: “The demolition will allow construction work on the Athletes’ Village to begin.” [Well, that's alright then. There will be absolutely NO benefit for the residents of Glasgow, but hey - someone will be making some quick money...]

Save the Accord Centre

2011-04-01T17:23:00.002+01:00

So two weeks ago the Accord Centre were sent a letter from the Council saying they would have to vacate the premises yesterday. But the place the Council was going to move everyone is having "financial difficulties". Anyways, the Centre is fighting back - follow their news on Facebook.

Games Monitor: The eviction

2011-03-26T09:16:00.001Z

Photos and more about the Jaconelli eviction: http://gamesmonitor2014.wordpress.com/

Disgrace

2011-03-25T13:59:00.001Z

100 cops evict gran from flat for Commonweath Games

by Steve White, Daily Mirror 25/03/2011

MORE than 100 police officers yesterday helped evict a defiant gran from her flat, which is to be flattened for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

In a 5am raid, Margaret Jaconelli, 52, was shifted by force from her Glasgow home of 35 years after an eight-year legal battle.

Her supporters were stunned by the numbers used by Strathclyde Police, but the force said the eviction was “resourced appropriately”.

The Herald notices Glasgow planning makes no sense

2011-03-24T14:07:00.003Z

It took them awhile, but still the elite organ the Glasgow Herald finally notices that the City Council's destruction of the city makes no sense. Still, they oddly recommend that Margaret Jaconelli "take the money and move on". However, they do - finally, belatedly - recognise that knocking down communities does not engender communities. Better late than never?

The real legacy of the 2014 Games

The transformation of the east end of Glasgow into an international sports hub for the Commonwealth Games in 2014 is but the latest episode in the decades-long saga of regeneration of the area.

Successive city councillors, planners, economists and architects have wrestled with Quixotic plans to once again make the post-industrial city the Dear Green Place.

There have been many mistakes along the way, mostly due to vaulting municipal ambition. Glasgow undertook the largest, post-war, comprehensive redevelopment of any city in the UK and thousands of tenements were demolished. Famously, a delegation of councillors to Marseille in 1947 were so bedazzled by Le Corbusier’s tower blocks that they returned with visions of replacing dark slums with sun-filled, high-rise towers. The reality in rainy west of Scotland was very different. The most notorious blocks in Hutchesontown, where tenants used to conduct journalists on tours of the mould growing on the walls, have now been demolished.

With the award of the title of European City of Architecture in 1999 came a new sense of custodianship, not just of the ornate city centre buildings but of the streets of handsomely proportioned sandstone tenements which have been integral to the physical and social structure of the city since Victorian times.

Yet the recognition that too many have been lost that might have been refurbished has not spared the traditional streets around Parkhead from the developers’ bulldozers. The tried and tested model of three floors of tenement flats above ground floor shops provides the sense of community all planners seek. In this case, however, that has been trumped by the greater good of the new community due to emerge as the legacy of the Commonwealth Games.

Which is where Jack and Margaret Jaconelli come into the picture. Their tenement flat is now the only one still occupied in Ardenlea Street, the whole of which is to be demolished to provide a construction yard for the athletes’ village for the Games. The Jaconellis’ flat is the subject of a compulsory purchase order by the council.

Naturally, they don’t want to leave the home they have lived in for 34 years and now own outright. Mrs Jaconelli’s feisty resistance must endear her to all of us whose natural instinct is to take the side of the underdog in the face of corporate clout or against a public body failing in its duty to act fairly and reasonably. Having lost an appeal against a sheriff’s ruling that the council can evict her, she and her family have barricaded themselves in.

Unlike householders on land adjoining Donald Trump’s golf course in Aberdeenshire, who have gained assurances the tycoon will not ask the council to take out compulsory purchase orders on their homes, the stand-off between the couple and the council is not as simple a David and Goliath battle as it first appears. Mrs Jaconelli turned down the offer of £30,000 for her flat because it would not be sufficient to buy another. That is true but neighbours who took the offer when it was first made gained a sizeable deposit which enabled them to buy a better house.

The council has since increased its offer to £90,000 but Mrs Jaconelli was not satisfied because it compared poorly with compensation paid to property developers. The couple spend £5000 a year on heating their two-bedroom flat as a result of the condition of the building. A letter submitted to the court from their doctor says both are suffering from stress due to their housing circumstances and a move would improve their health. It surely is now in her interest to take the money on offer and move. [???!!!]

Nevertheless, the council must be held to account. The success or failure of the Games must be judged as much on the legacy as on the sporting festival, attendance figures and income generated. Improved health and wealth for ithe community are part of the deal.

It is not only the sanctity of people’s homes that must be respected. Instead of demolishing the stones and structure of the community, a new sense of purpose and pride in the east end of Glasgow would be better achieved by building on them.

Vote Margaret Jaconelli!

2011-03-23T14:11:00.000Z

Eviction protestor bids for move to Holyrood

23 Mar 2011

A GRANDMOTHER embroiled in a bitter eviction battle over plans to demolish her home to make way for the Commonwealth Games athletes’ village is to stand for the Scottish Parliament.

Margaret Jaconelli, 52, said yesterday she would contest May’s poll on a platform of fighting for a fair legacy for Glasgow after the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

She will put up a £500 deposit raised by supporters of her bid to remain in her home.

The announcement came as she remained barricaded in her tenement in the Dalmarnock area of the city after being served with an eviction notice by Glasgow City Council on Friday.

Mrs Jaconelli urged the council to delay moving in until after polling day on May 5 as she plans to designate the home as her campaign headquarters in the six-week run up to the election.

The would-be politician and her husband, Jack, also 52, are the only remaining residents in a now-derelict block of flats in Ardenlea Street, which is set to be demolished to make way for a 52-hectare athletes’ village.

She said: “Before now, I had never dreamed of entering the world of politics. But then I realised I have been locked in a political battle with this council for the past eight years.

“They want to steal my home from me and my family but I have had neither the power not political platform to take them on.

“That changes now. Hopefully, with the support of the Glasgow people, I can highlight the disgraceful way our community has been treated in the name of these Games.

“It is not about me. I am aware of many examples where this council has bulldozed the rights of its citizens. People have been coming to me recently asking for help.

“I would ask the council to respect the fact that my home is now my campaign headquarters and remove the threat of eviction until after the vote.”

A source close to Mrs Jaconelli said she was completing paperwork for her candidacy ahead of next Tuesday’s deadline for entries. He added that she he planned to submit the forms in person at the City Chambers.

He added that she was currently seeking advice on whether to stand as a list MSP or in a particular seat, and remained undecided.

Dozens of Mrs Jaconelli’s supporters continued to hold a vigil outside the property throughout yesterday, with many sleeping in their cars overnight.

However, a council spokesman said their “position had not changed” and the eviction was still on track despite being more than four days past its original deadline.

The family’s lawyer, Mike Dailly said he did not believe citing the flat as a campaign headquarters would stop it being demolished.

He said he will now take the fight to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Mr Dailly said: “I don’t feel we can go any further within UK law. We have taken this appeal to Europe. We do believe this is a violation of their human rights.”

The council has been granted a compulsory purchase order on the property. Mrs Jaconelli’s last appeal to the Court of Session was rejected on Thursday, and an eviction notice was issued next day.

However, the council failed to go through with the removal, citing fears for the safety of young children inside the house, which has been barricaded.

The council has offered £90,000 compensation to the couple. They have no mortgage but say after legal fees and other costs they would not be able to buy another property in Glasgow outright.

Games organisers "failed to meet dozens of targets"

2011-03-21T15:03:00.002Z

Evening Times:

Salmond called in to Games row

21 Mar 2011

First Minister Alex Salmond has been asked to explain why Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games organisers have failed to meet dozens of targets.

Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown said the missed milestones were “extremely worrying”.

The 2014 Games are being run by Glasgow 2014 Ltd, known as the Organising Committee, along with Scottish Government and city council funders.

A draft of the committee’s latest business plan, leaked to our sister paper the Sunday Herald, shows 46 milestones have not been met. Dates were put back over a year, or reprofiled as “to be confirmed”.

A “ceremonies strategic plan”, due in January, had not yet been published, while the date on the accommodation plan had slipped by nine months.

A logistics strategic plan missed its completion date of June last year, and an anti doping scheme milestone went by the wayside.

Mr Brown raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions, but did not get the answers he wanted. Now, in a letter to Mr Salmond, the former deputy education minister has asked for a detailed reply, saying: “The level of delays and slippage indicated, seem to me to be extremely worrying.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said the Games “remain on track and on budget”, a comment echoed by the Organising Committee.

Meanwhile, a couple facing eviction to make way for the Games village have fortified their Dalmarnock flat against bids to take it over.

Margaret and her husband Jack, both 52, lost a legal fight to stay in their home.

Margaret Jaconelli secures 2014 Games eviction hearing

2011-03-17T09:54:00.003Z

BBC Online:

She is the last remaining resident in a block of flats at Ardenlea Street

A woman whose home is to be demolished to make way for the 2014 Commonwealth Games has secured a last-minute hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Margaret Jaconelli, a 52-year-old grandmother, is due to be evicted from her flat in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, later after losing an appeal last week.

Her application to take the case to the Court of Session was then refused by Glasgow Sheriff Court.

However, on Wednesday, her lawyer managed to secure the 1000 GMT hearing.

Mrs Jaconelli was told earlier this week that she could appeal the compensation awarded to her through the Lands Tribunal but the eviction scheduled for Thursday afternoon would not be postponed.

She is the last remaining resident in a block of flats at Ardenlea Street.

'Fingers crossed'

Glasgow City Council was granted a compulsory purchase order for the two-bedroom property.

Mrs Jaconelli said the £30,000 initially offered for her home, which she has lived in for 34 years, was not enough to buy another property.

The city council said the district valuer had since increased the offer to £90,000.

Mrs Jaconelli said: "I am keeping my fingers crossed that I still have a roof over my head by Thursday night.

"Me and my family have worked all our lives for what we have.

"I still maintain that this council is trying to steal my house from me."

Games "on track"

2011-03-13T14:11:00.000Z

Don't worry, everything's fine:

BBC Online

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on track - director

Scotstoun is one of the venues that will be used in the 2014 Games

Director Gordon Arthur has responded to claims that Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games has missed deadlines by insisting preparations are "on track."

Recent press reports suggested that milestones in the build-up to the event had not been met.

"We've not missed 50 milestones, we have re-phased," said Arthur.

"We are from the organising committee's planning point of view and the Games partners' delivery of infrastructure programme, in a very good place."

Arthur insisted the organising committee was keen to ensure that public money was being spent responsibly and at the right time.

"We've got huge support from the media right across Scotland," he told BBC Radio Scotland's Sport Nation programme.

"One is always going to get the occasional articles where people take a different stance.

"A year ago, when we put together our business plan, we set out largely based on the guidance that we get from the knowledge transfer system that's run by the Commonwealth Games Federation.

"Remember, we were only about 20 people in the organising committee a year ago. We set out a programme of work, but most of what we've been doing during the year, as well as recruiting people, is understanding better the task that we've got to do and a huge amount of that understanding and knowledge transfer takes you to re-phasing your work.

All the infrastructure build that's going on in Scotland, which is much, much smaller but nevertheless very impressive programme, is absolutely on track

Gordon Arthur

"So we haven't missed milestones, we've re-phased a lot of our work and the reason we do that is to make sure we don't recruit people any earlier than we need to, or spend money any earlier than we need to.

"We're very conscious we're publicly funded in the main and we want to spend that money very, very wisely."

The build-up to the Delhi Games in 2010 was beset with problems in terms of getting facilities ready on time and Arthur admits that the Glasgow organising committee cannot afford to keep "re-phasing" right up until the event itself.

"Clearly that would not be helpful, but it's all about understanding better where we are and what we're doing," added Arthur.

"Since we came back from Delhi, we've done about two thirds of our very detailed functional area strategies.

"We now have a really detailed understanding of the complexity of the programme and all the interdependencies that lie between the different aspects of the programme.

"We are on track, we are on budget and we are very happy, as are the Commonwealth Games Federation, with where we are at this point in time.

"The big challenge Delhi had is they took on an enormous programme of building. It wasn't just the venues, they were building new metro systems, new roads, new railways - it was a colossal programme of infrastructure build they took on.

"All the infrastructure build that's going on in Scotland, which is much, much smaller but nevertheless very impressive programme, is absolutely on track.

"The facilities are largely due to be open two years before the Games and will be used by concerts and sporting events.

"The M74 (extension) is due to open this year. The Airdrie-Bathgate rail line's already open."

Another shocker!

2011-01-21T15:18:00.004Z

As hard as it may be to believe, it appears that the "legacy projects" for the Commonwealth Games may be disappearing up in smoke. Who would've thunk it? Imagine - a government spends a huge amount of money on a project that will only benefit contractors, developers, etc, after telling everyone there would be huge gains for the people. Well, it would never happen in Glasgow!

Ok, of course it will. And London too. As this blog has pointed out time and time again, "mega-events" like the Commonwealth Games never deliver gains for the ordinary person. It's a con game.

BBC News:

Cash fears over 2014 Commonwealth Games legacy

(Clockwise from top left) Cycling image, games logo, boxing image, National Indoor Sports Arena image and aerial view before construction

Plans to leave a "golden" economic legacy from Glasgow's 2014 Commonwealth Games are "under real threat" because of funding cuts, it has been claimed.

Clyde Gateway said cash earmarked for it, and five other urban regeneration companies, was being slashed by 46%.

It claims this will jeopardise redevelopment plans for Glasgow's east end which will be home to the games.

Fund givers Scottish Enterprise said it had had to look closely at future priorities.

Clyde Gateway is one of six urban regeneration firms in Scotland charged with delivering "focused, integrated strategies" to turn around run-down communities.

All six receive funding from the Scottish government and its main economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise.

Clyde Gateway said it had been given "a ballpark figure of just over £18m as a combined level of support for 2011/12 from the Scottish government and Scottish Enterprise but no indication of support for 2012 and beyond".

It claimed Scottish Enterprise had made a 46% cut in support to all six urban regeneration firms in 2011/12.

The agency said that it had been "anticipating" £7.5m from Scottish Enterprise on the basis of a "legal agreement" but had now been told it would share £6.8m with the other five urban regeneration firms.

In a statement, Clyde Gateway said: "We now have less resources that we had been led to believe from previous discussions and from statements made by government ministers that Clyde Gateway was a national priority given the nature of our work and our efforts to assist with the delivery of a true legacy from the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

"As such, it is going to be a huge challenge to maintain the momentum we have built up over the last three years and it will also be tremendously difficult to plan ahead for meaningful long-term regeneration and development.

"We are currently looking at the different options open to us, but it would be accurate to say that some of the longer-term economic development projects we saw as being key to success are in jeopardy."

Clyde Gateway's Jim Clark said that the funding indicated by Scottish Enterprise amounted to "a substantial cut".

Derelict sites

He told BBC News Online Scotland: "While the Commonwealth Games and main venues are not in any danger, the legacy from the games is, with many of the regeneration goals in Glasgow's east end under real threat."

Mr Clark said proposals to bring derelict sites into use and make the area around the M74 extension more attractive were now in jeopardy.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Enterprise said: "In common with all other public sector organisations, we have had to look closely at our priorities for next year to ensure that we're investing in those areas that will have the biggest impact possible on Scotland's economic performance.

"The Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 offers enormous opportunities and we recognise that we need to invest now if we are to fully exploit these opportunities for the benefit of Scotland.

"In recognition of this and of the important contribution that urban regeneration companies make to the Scottish economy, we have agreed to invest £6.8m to support their activity in 2011/12.

"This is in addition to funding from the Scottish government and the combined investment will ensure that they have access to more than £25m in 2011/12."

Games Monitor: "Shame Games"

2010-09-30T22:35:00.000+01:00

From Games Monitor:

On Tuesday 28th September (yesterday), Margaret Jaconelli was given 48 hours to leave her premises before being evicted.

Margaret has vowed to fight on for a fair deal rather than accept the risible £30,000 she has been offered for her two-bedroom tenement home. Margaret has lodged a court appeal, but in case this isn’t successful, many have pledged to support her on friday when the baillifs are due.

The media is finally beginning to take notice, and Margaret is getting her chance to speak out to a wider public. The Sun carried the story today, with Margaret responding to the £30,000 valuation:

“Where can I buy anything in Glasgow for that?

“All I’m doing is fighting for a home that my husband has worked hard for. I will appeal. I am not for giving up my home.”

BBC News also reported the story in a little more depth, though not entirely accurately (Margaret lives in a tenement, not a ‘tower block’). They quote from a statement Margaret read to the court:

“We’re being told that properties are being pulled down for regeneration but it’s more like degeneration.

“Communities have disappeared and friendships have been lost by the council pulling down large parts of the east end so that it is now reminiscent of Beirut.”

She said she was the “sole survivor of a council policy to raze Dalmarnock to the ground”.

“I’m just a wee person from the east end of Glasgow and all I’m doing is fighting for a home that my husband has worked hard for for 34 years.

“They’re stealing my property after us working so hard for it.”

She also added that she would have difficulty buying her family a “tent or an outside toilet” with the compensation the council are offering.

We totally support Margaret’s struggle for a fair deal. But this isn’t just about one individual. Large-scale regeneration companies and local authorities are increasingly aiming to use compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to pursue property development strategies.

Running down an area makes it more profitable to invest in as land and rent prices are devalued, meaning that when new investment arrives it becomes possible to extract healthy profits from an area - especially if compensation levels are kept artificially low (or not paid at all) for those who will be displaced.

When people wonder why an area has become so run down, they rarely consider that it might be a deliberate operation of land and housing markets. The consequences of that practice are often devastating for local residents in the way of ‘regeneration’, such as the people of Dalmarnock.

Anyone wanting to support Margaret should contact:

gamesmonitor2014@googlemail.com

Delhi Games: 17 times over original budget

2010-08-05T15:41:00.002+01:00

There are concerns that building for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, due to start in two months time, may not be complete. And all this, despite the Games being 17 times over-budget! Of course, nothing like that could happen here in Glasgow, now could it...

See more here:

Scots Games chief 'confident' about Delhi event despite claims of delays
Published Date: 04 August 2010
By MARTYN McLAUGHLIN

THE head of Scotland's Commonwealth Games team said he is confident it will be able to "cope with all eventualities" in Delhi amid increasing concerns over infrastructure and corruption.

Jon Doig, chief executive of Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS), said he has been reassured by his counterparts in India that "everything will be ready on time," despite mounting criticism of the event. With just two months to go before the opening ceremony, the final preparations for the 2010 Games have been tarnished by construction problems and claims of financial impropriety.

Despite India's hopes that the Games will showcase its emergence as a global economic power, four venues are still under construction, with others the focus of a row over sub-standard work.

A revised deadline for the Games venues to be handed over to event directors passed on Monday, raising concern that athletes' preparations may be jeopardised.

However, Mr Doig, below, said a CGS support team has visited Delhi on the number of occasions, and is prepared for any problems which may arise.

The Delhi Games is already struggling with a budget that has grown to 17 times the original estimate, while the Indian government has this week urged the organising committee to sack two officials at the centre of corruption allegations.

Reports suggest that construction quality certificates inspected so far had turned out to be fake or "suspect", with ongoing work hampered by the annual monsoon, which has submerged approach roads, waterlogged building sites, and exposed leaks in supposedly finished venues.

Meanwhile, a report from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), a government anti-corruption agency, has identified 16 Games construction projects where large-scale financial irregularities are suspected.The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has asked for clarification amid signs that some venues are already showing signs of construction faults.

"We are concerned about the implication of the CVC report. We have written to the OC (Organising Committee] following the report, basically saying that we need assurances from the venue owners … that all venues are fully compliant with government of India laws," CGF chief executive Mike Hooper said.

"Certainly it is of concern and if there are immediate works that need to be done … they must do it in the next 60 days."

His comments followed warnings from Australia's national field hockey coach Ric Charlesworth that the CGF was "very naive" if it continued to believe the assurances from the Games' organisers.Mr Charlesworth said even if the competition arenas were finished, other preparations would not be completed on time."

My concern is that we will get there and have people stuck on the 15th floor with no working lifts, no air-conditioning, electricity going on and off, no water in the taps and poor sewerage."

But Mr Doig, said he was optimistic that the Games, scheduled to begin on 3 October, will prove a success.

"We are in regular contact with the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee and they continue to assure us that everything will be ready on time," he said.

"It is important at this point that we and our athletes retain our focus, and look at what we can control, rather than worrying about what we can't." He added: "Clearly, as at all Games, there will be operational challenges. However, we are confident we have an excellent support team who have visited Delhi and have the experience to cope with all eventualities."

Corruption claims spark furyAN OFFICIAL report into the corruption allegations threatening to cast a shadow over the Delhi Games makes for grim reading.

The findings by the Central Vigilance Commission, India's top anti-corruption agency, ruled that the event infrastructure is in poor shape due to "large-scale corruption, usage of substandard material and repeated delays".

Some venues have been found to have substandard concrete and steel structures, with loose grilles and wiring. With the Indian government eager to see Games organisers dispose of certain officials, the acrimony has led to the leaking of correspondence from a ministerial department.

The letter from the sports ministry, addressed to Organising Committee chair, Suresh Kalmadi, makes clear the discontent. "With the Games just two months away, (such] matters … raise questions of probity and integrity of officers in the OC." "They tarnish the image of the Games and adversely affect its credibility," it adds.

Media coverage, too, has become increasingly negative as the Games approach.

One Indian news magazine dubbed the event the "Shame Games" while a recent newspaper editorial said it was "in danger of becoming an exhibition of ineptitude and incompetence."

Commonwealth Games "consultation" events taking place in June

2010-05-28T17:50:00.001+01:00

From Hidden Glasgow:

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games consultation events to take place in Glasgow next month

Consultation events looking at the progress being made on Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games venues and facilities and plans for the legacy from the Games will take place at five centres across the city during June.
The events, entitled, ‘The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games - what does it mean for you?’ will be open to members of the public and community groups.
Councillor Archie Graham, Executive Member for the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow City Council, will provide an overview on the work underway across the city to date, in terms of the venues under construction and re-development such as Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls, the National Indoor Sports Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, and plans for the Athletes' Village.
Councillor Graham will also set out the city’s plans and ambitions for how Glasgow will benefit from hosting of the Games and the legacy they will leave behind.
The events will finish with a short workshop session to give people the opportunity to contribute and find out how the Council can help them to get involved in achieving a positive legacy from the Games.

The events are taking place as follows:

• South East Glasgow - Thursday 17 June, 6 - 8pm in Hollybrook School, 135 Hollybrook Street, Govanhill G42 7HU
• North Glasgow - Saturday 19 June, 11am - 1pm at Petershill Park Leisure Centre, 30 Adamswell Street, Springburn G21 4DD
• South West Glasgow - Monday 21 June, 5pm - 7pm in the Palace of Art for Sports Excellence, Bellahouston Park, Bellahouston G41 5BW
• West Glasgow - Thursday 24 June, 5 - 7pm at Scotstoun Stadium, 72 Danes Drive, Scotstoun G14 9HD
• East Glasgow - Friday 25 June, 5pm - 7pm at Dalmarnock Community Centre, 3 Lily Street, Dalmarnock G40 3HE

Councillor Archie Graham, Executive Member for the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow City Council, said: “These events will be the next stage of public consultation on both the preparations for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and its legacy. I look forward to hearing people’s views, and to discussing how much progress has been made in getting venues and facilities ready for the Games. As always with consultation events, I would urge everyone interested to come along.”Those who wish to attend the events must register, and should use the following contact details:

South East: 0141 276 9880 / southeastcpp@glasgow.gov.uk
North: Jennifer Stevenson / jennifer.stevenson@glasgow.gov.uk / 0141 276 9870
South West: 0141 276 9890 / southwestcpp@glasgow.gov.uk
West: 0141 276 9900 / KirstyAnne.Park@glasgow.gov.uk
East: Amanda Ritchie / 0141 276 1785 / amanda.ritchie@csglasgow.org
Information on the facilities at each event or special requirements for attendees will be available through these numbers.

insidethegames.biz: "2014 budget now over half-a-billion pounds"

2010-05-23T19:33:00.001+01:00

Glasgow 2014 budget now over half-a-billion pounds

Saturday, 22 May 2010

May 22 - Hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is now predicted to cost more than half a billion pounds, it has been revealed.

A revised balance sheet has put the final total for Glasgow 2014 at more than £523 million ($757 million), more than £150 million ($217 million) over the original bid estimate.

The new figure, which represents the latest in a series of cost increases, was put down to inflation forecasts in the years leading up to the event.

Only six months ago, officials confirmed the budget had risen by £81 million ($117 million) to £454 million ($657 million) as a result of rising broadcasting and legislative costs.

The new figure adds a further £69m ($100 million) to the total.

But John Scott, the chief executive of Glasgow 2014, claimed that the budget remained within what they had originally announced last November.

He said: "The Glasgow 2014 budget remains at £454 million ($657 million) at 2007 prices as announced last November at the budget review.

"As part of the expected follow-up of that review, we have now calculated the projected inflation for each year up to 2014-15.

"The project remains on-budget and on-track to deliver an outstanding Games."

Under the revised budget, the overall operations costs now stand at £193 million ($280 million), with staffing costs in the region of £72 million ($104 million).

The Games will also spend £50 million ($77 million) on communications, and £17 million ($24 million) on marketing and sponsorship.

The Scottish Government is contributing £344 million ($498 million) to Glasgow 2014 with the remainder coming from Glasgow City Council, who are putting in £80 million ($116 million), and commercial income of £100 million ($145 million) raised by the organising committee.

Scott said: "The last 18 months have seen the most significant change to the economy in more than 70 years.

"We now face the challenge of delivering the Commonwealth Games that our Games partners expect during a period of slow recovery from a major economic downturn, with pressure on all public sector and commercial funding budgets."

Shona Robison, Scotland's Minister for Public Health and Sport, said: "The impact of inflation over the next five years does not change the Games budget nor the determination of all those involved to work within that budget."

'No evidence' of Games Benefits

2010-05-21T15:10:00.000+01:00

'No evidence' of games benefit

Games organisers hope it will leave a positive legacy for public health

There is no evidence that staging the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will have a positive long-term effect on public health, it has been claimed.

Organisers of the 2014 Glasgow games hope the event will inspire local people to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

But a study funded by the Medical Research Council has found nothing to confirm expectations about the benefits of previous large sporting events.

The research is published in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal.

The study was carried out by researchers at the Glasgow-based Social and Public Health Sciences Unit.

They set out to assess the effects of major sporting events on the health of the host city's population.

Although it will look absolutely marvellous on our high definition TVs, on the ground I don't think we're going to be seeing much of an improvement in the sporting activities of the people of Glasgow

Dr Gerry Spence
Glasgow GP

Despite reviewing 54 previous studies, their report concluded that the available evidence was "not sufficient to confirm or refute expectations" about the public health impact of large sporting events.

It said: "Future events such as the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, or the 2014 Commonwealth Games, cannot be expected to automatically provide benefits.

"Until decision makers include robust, long-term evaluations as part of their design and implementation of events, it is unclear how the costs of major multi-sport events can be justified in terms of benefits to the host population."

Dr Gerry Spence, a GP in Glasgow's east end where the 2014 games will take place, said it was "a no brainer" that the event would not translate into more sporting activity.

"I think they're going to be portraying sport as an elite activity," he said.

"We're going to see people at the very top of their game who are a completely different shape, and probably colour, from the rest of us.

"Although it will look absolutely marvellous on our high definition TVs, on the ground I don't think we're going to be seeing much of an improvement in the sporting activities of the people of Glasgow."

Glasgow City Council said that it was aware a positive legacy from the games would not occur automatically but was committed to trying to ensure this happened while measuring its success.

Evening Times: "Stadium's steps crumbling after one year"

2010-05-14T16:53:00.002+01:00

Of course, the bold and dynamic visionaries at Glasgow City Council and Culture and Sport would never squander public money:

Stadium’s steps crumbling after one year

Catriona Stewart

14 May 2010

Just one year after Glasgow’s showpiece football facilitiy was opened the main entrance is starting to crumble.

Toryglen Regional Football Centre was hailed as a vital bargaining tool in the city’s 2014 Commonwealth Games bid.

But the main access to the centre began to fall apart two months ago – and bosses have still not repaired the steps.

Regulars who use the facility say the fluorescent cones and hazard tape surrounding the entrance are an “embarrassment”.

Tom McQueen, whose seven-a-side team regularly meet at Toryglen, said: “This is meant to be a shining beacon to the rest of the country but having the steps broken for so long is an embarrassment.

“It may seem like a trivial thing but it’s the very first thing visitors see and it’s not exactly subtle, with the cones and the tape.”

Tom’s teammate Kevin Frew, 29, added: “This is an amazing facility and we’re lucky to have it but it doesn’t inspire much confidence when you can’t even get up the front steps.

“It’s only been open a year – you’d think keeping it all in one piece would be a priority.”

When it was opened last April former Scotland manager George Burley said it was the “way forward for Scottish football”. And the £15.7million facility was also praised by football legend Kenny Dalglish.

Toryglen is the first full-size, indoor pitch in Scotland. It was hailed as being a benchmark for other Scottish sport facilities. The centre includes indoor and outdoor pitches and facilities and is part of the Scottish Football Association’s action plan for youth football.

It has a full-size indoor synthetic pitch, a rugby training area and room for 700 spectators. And it features three full-size floodlit synthetic pitches, a full-size grass pitch, a floodlit synthetic five-a-side court and a goalkeepers’ training area. It is expected to be a training location for the 2012 Olympics.

Culture and Sport, which runs the centre, blames the lack of repairs on bad weather.

A spokesman said work cannot be carried out until there is a spell of sunshine. But once repairs can be started they will be paid for by the contractor

A spokesman for Culture and Sport, said: “The repair to the steps requires a sustained period of better weather and will be carried out in the immediate future.

“The cost is covered under the defect liability of the contractor.”

£95,000?!

2010-03-11T20:11:00.004Z

Well, we've paid for it - that's right, the fabulous new 2014 logo. £95,000 from the public purse. And apparently the "design team" copied it from one of their earlier designs.

Well, at least Glasgow's community centres are to close - now that's progress!

"An interest in the southern hemisphere"

2010-03-07T16:35:00.004Z

The visionary who landed Glasgow with the Commonwealth Games has fled Scotland.

Now, does anyone think that there are reasons to question the decision making process in Glasgow City Council?

Or is this all normal?

Shock news! Elite media catches up with anti-Games blogs!

2010-02-02T17:28:00.002Z

Amazing stuff - after all the boosterism, the total lack of any dissenting voices about the Games, and the huge costs and destruction of communities that always happen with mega-events - now this from the Herald:

Keeping 2014 costs in check deserves a medal

Published on 1 Feb 2010

Brian Currie

It may sound like heresy but there were people who had serious doubts about bidding to bring the Commonwealth Games to Scotland in 2014.

Bitter memories remain of the debt-ridden 1986 Edinburgh Games and the fiasco of bully-boy Robert Maxwell’s intervention to “save” them. Not that having the taxpayer dig deeper to fund the event is unusual: the 1990 Auckland Games lost twice as much as Edinburgh and, more recently, the government had to put up £100m to bail out the 2002 Manchester Games.

This year’s Games in Delhi have been beset by controversy and, only a few weeks ago, it was reported not one of the 17 venues had been completed. The final bill is expected to be 280% over budget. At least the Manchester Games were hugely successful and played a large part in regenerating the city, bringing in investment and creating thousands of jobs.

They were part of the inspiration and justification for Scotland’s bid. The important word in that sentence is Scotland – although Glasgow will benefit most, the bid was made in Scotland’s name and it’s the Scottish taxpayer, not just those who live in the city, who will help pay for it.

That’s why Holyrood’s Public Audit Committee did an invaluable job last week in demanding explanations for the costs. It elicited information from officials which led Tory finance spokesman Derek Brownlee to comment despairingly that this was “just another project out of control” and Labour’s James Kelly to say it was “staggering” that inflation costs had not been factored into the budget.

There were reasons during the Games bidding process for not taking inflation into account, but whether they were sound reasons is another question.

If junketing were a Commonwealth Games sport, federation officials would be gold medal winners, but the number of times the event has been nowhere near the budget estimate suggests they should take a refresher course in basic arithmetic and find a formula allowing bidders accurately to reflect final costs.

Inept answers from the officials appearing before the Audit Committee did little to inspire confidence. Including a contingency fund of £80m, the budget currently stands at £454m. But an answer from Liz Hunter, the Scottish Executive’s director of equalities, social inclusion and sport, suggested the contingency fund would be used to mop up inflation.

That isn’t the understanding of senior people at Glasgow City Council who believe the additional money was to pay for unexpected circumstances such as building or technical problems.

No-one expected to find traces of asbestos on the site of the velodrome in the East End, for example, and that’s what the contingency cash is there for. It’s not just the evidence presented at Holyrood that should raise concerns about what is going on with the preparations. The north-west of England, having learned from the Manchester Games, is working hard to cash in on the 2012 London Olympics

by offering countries training in the area the chance to pre-book for the 2014 Scottish Games.

It’s good business practice and already Australia’s swimmers, athletes from Thailand and around a dozen nations from the Oceania group of countries in the Pacific are either interested or have already signed up to the deal.

Are these initiatives being matched in Scotland? Holyrood committees are often populated by too many inarticulate MSPs unable to formulate questions. However, the Public Audit Committee – and not for the first time under its convener, Hugh Henry – has delivered a wake-up call, on this occasion, to everyone involved in the organisation of Glasgow 2014.

A key part of the bid, the airport rail link, has probably gone for good and austerity will be the economic watchword between now and the Games. There is no scope for a spiralling budget. Mr Henry’s committee has identified serious weaknesses and he will revisit the subject. If it’s not too heretical, some other Holyrood committees might want to do the same.

Fault Lines - Rio:Olympic City

2010-01-10T16:55:00.002Z

Millions for managers and a "magnet" for "human trafficking"

2009-12-28T14:24:00.002Z

£1.2 Million for "consultants" and "managers" (Evening Times)

Commonwealth Games could be a "magnet" for prostitution and human trafficking (Evening Times)

Glasgow Commonwealth Games facing multi-million pound gap

2009-12-06T14:37:00.002Z

From insidethegames.biz:

Exclusive: Glasgow Commonwealth Games facing multi-million pound gap in budget after Davies report

Sunday, 06 December 2009

By Steven Downes

December 5 - Officials at Glasgow 2014 may be left with a £20 million hole in their budget as a result of the recommendation to drop the Commonwealth Games from Britain’s protected list of free-to-air televised sporting events.

Ben Bradshaw, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, will issue his response soon to the report on TV sport’s "Crown Jewels", which was delivered by David Davies and his committee last month.

There follows a three-month consultation period.

Provided there is not a UK general election before the end of March, Davies's recommendations could come in to force immediately thereafter.

Two small paragraphs of advice contained within the 110-page report passed almost unnoticed when it was published last month.

Yet the recommendations to drop the Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games from the protected list of free-to-air events has caused dismay in Glasgow and London, with one source involved with winter sports describing the suggestion as "deeply disappointing".

Davies's review of the protected list, the first to be conducted since 1998, took nine months, and it clearly struggled to reconcile the aspiration that key events of national interest should be seen by as many of the public as possible, while protecting sports bodies’ ability to generate income from TV rights.
*******************
Commonwealth officials fear that by de-listing the Games, Britain will replace a public-funded monopoly of coverage by the BBC with effectively a commercial monopoly, and one in which the value of the rights are starkly reduced.

The Commonwealth Games has traditionally always received in-depth coverage on the BBC, whether staged at home or abroad.

The BBC has served as host broadcaster at the 1970, 1986 and 2002 Games.

But its estimation of the value of the Games appears to be diminishing: Delhi 2010 is receiving just 60 per cent of the rights fees from the BBC that was paid to the organisers of the 2006 Melbourne Games.

Glasgow 2014, which recently increased its overall budget for staging the Games by £81 million, had based its bid on the BBC being its host broadcaster, setting the cost of hiring broadcast services at £19.3 million while placing the same value on the domestic TV rights "sold" to the BBC.

Full story here

From London to Glasgow - the disappearing city

2009-12-03T10:34:00.004Z

A science fiction film about a future London - could just as well be Glasgow (thanks to Games Monitor for posting this one):

"OLYMPICFIELD"

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics: 8 reasons to oppose the games

2009-12-01T10:04:00.001Z

Resist 2010: Eight Reasons to Oppose the 2010 Winter Olympics. (LOW RES) from BurningFist Media on Vimeo.

Predicting the costs

2009-12-01T09:26:00.001Z

From Games Monitor:

P R E D I C T I N G T H E C O S T S
AND B E N E F I T S O F
M E G A – S P O R T I N G E V E N T S :
M I S J U D G E M E N T O F O LY M P I C
P R O P O R T I O N S ?

Jonathan Barclay

The economic benefits of hosting mega-sporting events are often exaggerated. Ex-ante impact studies typically overestimate the gains and underestimate the costs involved. It is therefore difficult to explain in economic terms the intense competition among cities to hold such events.

Introduction

In recent years cities have competed
vigorously for the right to host what can be
labelled as ‘mega-events’, namely the
quadrennial Olympic Games and FIFA
Football World Cup. One can afford such a
description when one considers the scale of
these sporting extravaganzas, with in-person
attendance in the millions and television
audiences in the billions.1
There are a variety of reasons why cities
may wish to host these events, the most
compelling being the promise of a vast
economic windfall forecasted by economic
impact studies. Given these forecasts, an
increasing number of developing economies
have joined the bidding frenzy, insisting on
their right to receive a share of the monetary
spoils and hopefully kick-start their
development. It is also evident that cities that
host these events must commit a significant
investment into sports stadia and other
miscellaneous infrastructure. Therefore, the
question is whether the economic benefit
compensates for and outweighs the vast costs
and substantial risks incurred. Are the games
‘fool’s gold’ (Baade and Matheson, 2002) or a
lottery jackpot (Preuss, 2006, p. 183)?

US Journalist detained in Canada - because of 2010 Winter Olympics!

2009-12-01T09:23:00.001Z

From Games Monitor:

Democracy now

Amy Goodman Detained at Canadian Border, Questioned About Speech…and 2010 Olympics

While traveling to Vancouver, Canada to speak at the Vancouver Public Library at a benefit for community radio stations, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and her two colleagues were detained by Canadian authorities. Amy was questioned extensively about the speech she intended to give; their car was gone through by armed border guards, and their papers and laptop computers were scoured. The armed interrogators were particularly interested in whether she would be speaking about the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

BBC: "Venues behind schedule"

2009-11-22T20:03:00.000Z

From the BBC:

Venues for 2014 'behind schedule'

Work on several of the venues is running behind schedule

More must be done to make sure the cost of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow does not rise again, according to an official report.

The public spending watchdog Audit Scotland said that preparations for the games were progressing but warned that major challenges lay ahead.

The report comes days after the budget for the Games was increased by £81m.

It also said several of the venues were unlikely to be ready by the dates suggested in the original bid.

Earlier this week it emerged that the cost of hosting the Games had risen from £373m to £454m.

Audit Scotland's report was compiled before that budget increase was announced.

Caroline Gardner, deputy auditor general, said: "In the current economic climate public sector finances are already under pressure and it is essential that the organisers keep costs under control.

Unless a firm hand is exercised, this project could spiral out of all control

Bill Aitken MSP
Scottish Conservatives

"They need to continue to monitor and review the budget assumptions regularly."

The report also highlighted how several of the venues will now be ready later than predicted in the bid document.

The National Indoor Sports Arena was due to be complete by next March next year but will now not be ready until the end of 2011.

Fixed deadline

The Cathkin Braes cycling course is now expected to be complete in March 2012, almost three years late, and the refurbishment of Glasgow Green hockey complex and the national swimming centre have also slipped behind schedule.

However, Audit Scotland stressed that all the venues and transport projects would still be delivered in time for the Games beginning in July 2014.

John Baillie, chair of the Accounts Commission, said: "Although a key feature of the bid was that 70% of the infrastructure, including venues, was already in place, delivering a high quality Commonwealth Games to a fixed deadline presents major challenges for the four main organisers.

"It is crucial that risks are well managed as plans progress towards hosting the Games in 2014."

A 38.5 hectare athletes' village will be built in Dalmarnock for the Games

Glasgow Conservative MSP Bill Aitken called for a parliamentary statement on the issue.

He said: "Unless a firm hand is exercised, this project could spiral out of all control.

"Taxpayers need to know which budget will bear the costs and what else will be cut to pay for the increased costs."

Labour agreed that a "firm hand" was needed "to prevent any overrun" and the Liberal Democrats said the Games budget was likely to "creep up" with the Scottish government's budget being "raided to plug the gaps".

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: "The Audit Scotland study is a snapshot of Games planning activity up to August 2009.

"The Government and our Games partners have made substantial progress in recent months and this has a bearing on many of the findings.

She added: "Most significantly, the Games partners recognised the risk posed by an insufficient budget to the successful delivery of the Games and our ability to secure a lasting legacy.

"That is why the organising committee announced a budget increase of £81m. Audit Scotland have recommended, this will help to manage one of the major risks facing the Games."

FT: "Glasgow games hit by high broadcast cost"

2009-11-17T17:55:00.001Z

From the Financial Times

Glasgow games hit by high broadcasting cost

By Andrew Bolger, Scotland Correspondent

Published: November 16 2009 14:17 | Last updated: November 16 2009 18:47

The high cost of broadcasting sports events has been partly blamed by organisers of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow for the need to increase their budget by almost a quarter to almost half-a-billion pounds.

The games will be broadcast in high definition and will require additional facilities to enable viewers to select multiple events using “red button” digital options.

When the games were held in Manchester in 2002 the BBC covered the total broadcasting costs. However, the BBC could not commit to this at present, the games organisers said on Monday, while the market value of the broadcasting rights had fallen. They therefore had to allow for “a potential multi-million pound deficit”.

Most of the £81m increase to the budget, taking it to £454m, will be met by the Scottish government, although Glasgow city council will contribute an extra £9m and a further £13m will be raised from commercial activities.

Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, said the increase was challenging for the public purse but insisted the games would boost business and tourism. “The fact that 70 per cent of the games venues are already built will help guarantee no further pressure on the public purse,” he said.

But Murdo Fraser, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said it was “appalling” that public projects exceeded their budgets in a recession.

“We are already £80m over budget and the games are still five years away. Is this going to be another disaster on the scale of the Scottish parliament?”

The cost of Holyrood grew almost 10 times between 1997 and 2003.

The games organising committee said it had increased its contingency fund from £40m to £60m, partly to cover the risks involved in converting Scotland’s national football stadium at Hampden into an athletics facility, which will require the field to be raised by 1.5m.

The committee believed 10 per cent more staff would be required during the games – 100 more than proposed in the original bid.

Who'd a-thunk it?

2009-11-14T21:23:00.002Z

From BBC Online:

Cost of 2014 Games 'set to soar'

The budget for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is to be increased by £80m, BBC Scotland understands.

The bulk of the money will come from the Scottish government and Glasgow City Council.

It is thought some of the extra cash will be used to enable the games to be broadcast on high definition TV.

The original budget for the games was set at £373m but more funds are said to be required as a result of the global economic recession.

It is understood global economic circumstances have changed the figures originally outlined to cover the cost of staging the games.

An announcement on the additional funding is expected to be made early next week.

A Glasgwegian writes...

2009-11-11T11:24:00.002Z

From Glasgow Guide - a writer discusses the plans for redudancy for over 50s in Glasgow City Council:

The terms of Redundancy may look good, but anyone accepting them should remember they will have quite a few years to wait before they can claim SRP.

This crowd on the Council must be the worse crowd to run Glasgow that I can remember.

The City is dirty and needs a good clean up. The cracks in our roads and pavements are terrible.
I know a lot of people are responsible for the litter, but we do need more litter bins in all our streets.

In July they sent men round our area covering the pavements with a thin covering of tar which is already cracked and full of lumps. There is grass growing in the middle of the pavements.

As the area we live in is a small private estate, I am seriously thinking of sending a registered letter to the Council informing them that if anyone slips on the grassy pavement and injures themself outside our house, they the Council will be held responsible and liable to be sued and not us.

We have trees so tall and wide they are against our hall and bedroom windows. This is on ground maintained by the Council for which the builders of the houses pay Glasgow Council for maintenance.

A neighbour in her 80s asked the Council to cut the trees back and was told to get it done and pay for it herself.

It is obvious those in the Council knew the city could not afford the Commonwealth Games. But no doubt they will tell us the City will gain from it as there will a lot of money spent by all the people coming to Glasgow to see the Games.

When the next Council election comes along we should not elect anyone age 50 yrs or over.

"A legacy for the 2014 Commonwealth Games"

2009-10-12T16:03:00.001+01:00

From the Daily Record:

CalMac boss keeps his job after repaying £13K following expenses probe

Oct 12 2009 David Taylor

A BOSS at a ferry company funded by public money has been forced to pay back almost £13,000 of taxpayers' cash after a probe into his expenses.

Alan Moffat, human resources director of CalMac, claimed thousands of pounds for takeaway meals, hotel bills made out in his wife's name and alcohol bought near his home when he was not working.

Moffat, 54, who lives in Bearsden, near Glasgow, was issued with a final warning but was allowed to keep his job after paying back £12,899 last month.

Following an investigation by forensic accountancy firm KPMG, Moffat was found to have altered receipts and provided others which had no bearing to the claims.

He was reimbursed for cash he spent at McDonald's, Domino Pizza, Dobbie's Garden Centre, and the Ashoka Indian restaurant near his home. Moffat paid back cash including £4968 blown on takeaways, £1426 spent in convenience stores and £39 for a home internet connection.

Accountants also found "frequent reimbursement for costs relating to Victoria Wine where the date and time on the receipt is a Friday evening or weekend".

He also claimed for petrol and diesel fuel, even though his company car runs on diesel.

CalMac is owned by the Scottish Government. Its parent firm David MacBrayne accepted other claims he made as being genuine, including £1750 for staying in five-star hotels, £48.50 for roses sent to his home and £137 for a Swarovski crystal figurine.

His wife, Jillian, is a senior executive at jobs quango Scottish Enterprise, and is in charge of ensuring a business legacy for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

A spokesman for David MacBrayne said: "We are entirely satisfied that there was no intention to defraud."

Glasgow construction volume "plummets"

2009-10-02T15:04:00.001+01:00

From regen.net

Glasgow construction volume "plummets"

Christian Duffin, Regen.net, 2 October 2009

The volume of construction work underway in Glasgow has plummeted because of the recession, a study has found.

A survey carried out by commercial property consultancy Drivers Jonas found that 13 developments are currently under construction in Glasgow, compared to 30 last year.

The survey found that no new schemes started construction in 2009, compared to 11 in 2008.

There are only 122 residential housing units set for completion this year, substantially lower than the 580 annual average over the last nine years, according to the survey.

Several hotel developments have been delayed, including the Jumeirah Glasgow Hotel and the Bothwell Plaza, which have dented plans to add 3,000 hotel bedrooms by 2014, when the city hosts the Commonwealth Games, according to Drivers Jonas.

Alasdair Ramsay, a partner at Drivers Jonas in Scotland, said: "The research shows there is little construction activity in Glasgow city centre. However, the developments that have taken place in recent years have reinforced confidence in the city. Plans are currently being prepared for several commercial developments, even during the recession."

The survey can be seen here

East End allotments hopefully won't be destroyed by Games

2009-09-09T19:45:00.001+01:00

Commonwealth Games Village

2009-09-09T19:44:00.001+01:00

BBC: "We will vigorously question the Commonwealth Games project"

2009-09-03T14:28:00.002+01:00

Dear Mr ...

Thank you for your comments on our coverage of the Commonwealth Games project.

Please accept our apologies for the long delay in replying. We know our correspondents appreciate a quick response and we are sorry you have had to wait on this occasion.

I have passed these on to the reporter Hayley Millar. I can assure you that we will vigorously question the Commonwealth Games project as it progresses from now to 2014.

Thank you for your interest and your concerns.

Regards,

Atholl Duncan
Head of News

---------Original Message-------------

As there has *never* been a successful "regeneration" project carried out by Glasgow City Council or any of its friends in private industry, why was Hayley Miller's report on the the Commonwealth Games so devoid of any substantive criticism? Am I paying a licence fee in order to hear propaganda from the likes of Steven Purcell, who has never seen a demolition or school closing he didn't like? Any chance the lack of critical voices will be rectified?

Commonwealth Games "Health Impact Assessment"

2009-08-28T11:22:00.003+01:00

You may have seen surveys if you went to your doctors surgery recently. They were asking you why did you think the Commonwealth Games would be great, etc. Anyways, the results were to be posted on the Council's website in August - well, basically, now.

But the results aren't up yet.

Maybe Jo-Ann Welsh knows - why not drop her an email: joann.welsh@glasgow.gov.uk, or better yet, give her a ring: 0141 287 4460.

Ardenlea St Dalmarnock

2009-05-09T13:37:00.001+01:00

From Games Monitor 2014:

Ardenlea St in Dalmarnock is the site of the new Athletes Village for the Commonwealth Games. Margaret Jaconelli purchased her flat in 1976 and she and her family have lived alone on Ardenlea St. for the past 5 years. All the other tenants were rehoused and now the council are threatening to evict Margaret and her family. Her story can be viewed in the film clip below:

Games Monitor 2014

2009-04-30T19:44:00.003+01:00

There's a new website looking at the Commonwealth Games:

http://gamesmonitor2014.wordpress.com/

What is the Games Monitor?

The Games Monitor is an emerging group, or network, of people raising awareness about the impacts of ‘regeneration’ via the Commonwealth Games 2014 (CG 2014), and the Clyde Gateway Intiative (CGI).

Who are the people behind the Games Monitor?

We come from many different backgrounds: locals, activists, campaigners, academics. We are not backed by any political party/organisation, and none of us receive any money for the voluntary work we do with the Monitor. We are always happy to include more people in the group.

What does the Games Monitor do?

Our blog provides a clear, critical and accessible point of information about developments in the East End. We intend this site to be a hub for information exchange, publication and solidarity networking. We also want to start establishing contact with other groups in the area, who are concerned about the impacts of the Games.

What’s wrong with hosting the Games? Won’t it bring benefits to the people of the East end in Glasgow?

Despite all the hype, the lessons from many previous ‘mega-events’ like the Commonwealth Games, is that they typically run over budget; that ‘regeneration’ often causes displacement because of rising rents and prices; that there are often harmful environmental costs due to construction and road-building; and overall, that these types of events are typically more about private property development and ‘city-building’ (building an image of the city) than about the needs of local people.

But won’t the Games and the Clyde Gateway development go ahead anyway?

Yes, but we want to make sure that as many local people are involved in the process as possible, and that the real needs of the people of the East End are given voice, and have a chance to influence the outcomes of what is after all, the biggest regeneration programme in Scotland.

How can I get involved?

Check our contact page for our e-mail address. We hold regular meetings, and we intend to hold public meetings, conduct local history walks and make contact with other groups in the area. If you have any ideas you want to involve us in, or any information you want to share, then let us know and we’ll be happy to work alongside you for a better Glasgow East.

Sunday Herald: "I won't move out of my home for the 2014 games"

2008-09-21T18:37:00.001+01:00

'I won't move out of my home for the 2014 games'

TEN months after Glasgow rejoiced at being awarded the chance to be host city of the Commonwealth Games, a major regeneration project is under way to prepare for the Games and to transform the city's poorest areas. There is just one hitch: the last remaining residents in the area earmarked as the athlete's village are refusing to move out.

On Ardenlea Street in Dalmarnock the tenement row lies empty, neglected and crying out for demolition.

For the past five years Margaret Jaconelli, 50, her husband Jack, 50, and her 15-year-old son, Aarron, have been the only residents of the tenement block. Everyone else has been re-housed as part of the Clyde Gateway Project over five years ago, but Jaconelli refuses to move.

"I feel isolated because we don't have any neighbours. I have become a recluse. I don't even have a postcode any more, the gardens are littered with rubbish and no-one comes to clean it up. It's almost as if we no longer exist."

With the Commonwealth Games approaching, the city council is desperate to demolish the whole street, but Jaconelli says she will stay until she receives the compensation she believes she is due. She says she has so far been offered only an 80% ownership of a house in Cranhill, which she has turned down.

"I just feel like the council are coming in and taking my life away, my house away," she says. "They are not interested in me, I'm just a wee person and they think they can just walk all over me. At the end of the day they can all go back to their homes in the evening, but this is my home, my livelihood, it's all I have got."

Councillor George Redmond says there is an end in sight and that will be in the form of a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) on the property: "It is in no-one's interest that Margaret and her family remain there, especially after all this time. I am sympathetic to a point, but this is a larger issue. The local area needs certainty so that the games can take place and Ardenlea Street needs to be demolished. For the greater good of the area someone needs to take it on the chin."

Redmond claims a CPO has been placed on the property, but Jaconelli and her lawyer deny this.

Lawyer, James M Carmichael stated: "No CPO has been served on Margaret and if there was there would need to be time to contest it and to seek adequate compensation. I actually wish they would serve a CPO on the property so I can take it to the Sheriff's Court and we can get the issue finalised and make sure Margaret gets the adequate and rightful compensation that she is due."

Meanwhile, back at her ground-floor flat in the derelict street, Jaconelli is hoping for a solution to be made soon so she can move on with her life.

"We have been in limbo all this time - I am frightened to leave this house unoccupied for more than a few hours. The surrounding empty flats are continually broken into, vandalised and set on fire. We need to move on from here."

As winter approaches, the family is not looking forward to another winter in the flat. "For the past five winters my heating bills have been sky high, I am effectively heating the whole tenement," Jaconelli says, but she remains defiant. "I'm not budging. If the council don't give me the proper compensation that I deserve then I won't be moving anywhere. I will sit right here till 2014 and watch the Commonwealth Games from my window."

11:30pm Saturday 20th September 2008

Best laid plans Part 2

2008-08-24T21:11:00.003+01:00

Everything is going to plan for the Commonwealth Games - see articles below (don't worry, as costs rise, we'll pick up the bill).

From the Sunday Times:

Funding shortfall hits Glasgow Games

A key venue for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games faces a funding shortfall after the credit crunch scuppered plans to raise the cash through a land sale.
(Full article here)

From the Sunday Herald:

Crossrail project in doubt due to rising costs

A PROJECT dubbed the "missing piece in Scotland's rail jigsaw" that aims to improve east-west links looks in serious doubt as the government prepares to announce its priorities in the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR).
***
Ministers can expect a bruising row if Crossrail has been dropped, after an earlier study concluded that it would be worth over £1bn to the Scottish economy over 60 years, and passenger use purely at Glasgow High Street, which would become a transport hub, would be three million. It was also seen as vital for improving access to Glasgow and Prestwick airports, particularly in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games in 2014, by when it was due to be finished.
(Full article here)

And finally, another from the Sunday Times:

Credit crunch makes Clydeside work dry up

A few hundred yards from Glasgow city centre, work is progressing on a flagship project as part of the regeneration of the River Clyde.

*****

The Tradeston site is in the process of being cleared but no date has been fixed on when building will start. On the opposite bank, the developer Gladedale has put on hold its speculative project, a £150m office development at Broomielaw.

Further along the river, at Custom House Quay, a £200m development by the Australian entrepreneur Rodney Price has been in limbo for two years after plans for a 200-bedroom hotel were rejected. The architect RMJM admits it still has no firm starting date.

And as the Sunday Times reveals today, Elphinstone village, the ambitious £350m development on the west side of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), is the latest to go on hold. Planning consent was finally given in May just as the credit crunch was beginning to hit housebuilders hard. The result was that Elphinstone cannot realise the value of the site from potential developers in the current climate.

The SECC had been banking on receipts from that scheme to finance the Lord Foster-designed £70m, 12,500-seater arena set to be a significant part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

“It is frustrating that having waited so long for consent, it came at this time but there is no point in selling it at less than its value,” said Pete Selman, project director at Elphinstone. “There is no doubt that location is perfect and iconic. Hopefully we can still find a way to make it happen.”
These projects are at the heart of the £5 billion regeneration of Clydeside — but are the downturn and credit crunch threatening to derail long-term plans to bring life back to Glasgow’s riverside?
(Full article here)

TES: "Swimming hopefuls left high and dry"

2008-07-25T20:08:00.001+01:00

Times Education Supplement: Swimming hopefuls left high and dry

Emma Seith

Published: 25 July 2008

Funding plug is pulled on Commonwealth medallists’ club that balanced training and school demands

Many of scotland’s most promising young swimmers will never fulfil their potential, following the closure of the Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh, predicts a British Olympic team swimming coach.

Frederic Vergnoux launched a scathing attack this week on the sport’s governing body in Scotland after his club, which is based at the pool, was forced to close because its funding was withdrawn.

World-class swimming in the capital is dead, he said, because Scottish Swimming has axed funding for City of Edinburgh Swimming, whose members include Commonwealth medallists Kirsty Balfour and Gregor Tait.

Mr Vergnoux, who has been head coach since January 2005 and seen his swimmers break 110 national, Commonwealth and European records, is leaving after the Beijing Olympics to take up a job at the Racing Club of France in Paris, but says he would rather have stayed in Scotland.

The club will close next month, with nothing lined up locally to replace it, said Mr Vergnoux.

The consequences will be particularly dire for younger swimmers as the club played a vital role in helping them balance their sport with their school work, he claimed.

Scottish Swimming withdrew its financial support earlier this year because the Royal Commonwealth Pool is closing next year to be refurbished for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

“If you support performance swimming at the highest level, the facility is one of the biggest parts of it,” said Scottish Swimming’s performance director, Ally Whike.

Instead of investing in Edinburgh, Scottish Swimming was investing in facilities in other parts of the country, he said.

“We have engaged sports consultants KKP (Knight, Kavanagh and Page) to work with the local clubs on putting together another performance organisation,” he said, but such an organisation would not come into being until 2011 at the earliest, when the new pool is scheduled to reopen.

Edinburgh City Council’s funding support of £150,000 over three years was earmarked for developing swimmers for the Olympics, and that, too, has ceased.

A spokesman for the council said it was working with its leisure trust company and schools to offer alternative facilities while the Commonwealth Pool is closed.

Mr Vergnoux, who was named coach of the year for Scotland and Great Britain for the past two years, told The TESS: “When you swim in my programme, you do 10 sessions in and 10 sessions out of the water: weights and running. It’s a full-time job, but on top of that you have to go to school. If you don’t work with the school and have a weekly plan, they won’t help you.

“We can say, ‘This kid is a good swimmer at their level and they need to train and compete. Help us get them an education too’. There will be no programme providing what we provide at the moment.”

Megan Gilchrist is one of the young swimmers who has benefited from Mr Vergnoux’s programme.

She left Whitburn Academy in West Lothian this year and Mr Vergnoux expects her to make it to the 2012 British Olympic team.

She will “certainly” represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, he predicts. “Megan’s school was so supportive. We had a system where she did the full programme with us and the school provided tutoring. Sometimes a teacher would be at the pool side when she finished training.”

Lucy Ellis, currently a member of Dunedin club and a pupil at Inverkeithing High, could miss out from that kind of support, he said.

Lindsay Roy, former headteacher of Inverkeithing High, who has followed Lucy’s progress, commended programmes such as that created by Mr Vergnoux.

“It is a sound approach because it makes sure sporting youngsters are balanced with an appropriate input into their education, both in terms of time in school and time devoted to homework,” he said.

"The Olympics Scam"

2008-07-19T09:21:00.001+01:00

From City Strolls:

"This is East London, four years short of that 17-day corporate extravaganza, the 'primary strategic objective' to which we are all so deeply mortgaged. Haggerston Park, E2, a modest enclosure replacing war-damaged terraces and the demolished Imperial Gas, Light and Coke Company, has long been an oasis. It was opened as a public park in 1958. Its scandals are old scandals and have no bearing on the current frenzy for makeovers, peppery paths, wooden obstacles for training circuits, laminated heritage notices. Spanking new carpets are woven for clapped-out football pitches, changing rooms erected to replace shower blocks opened in the dark ages by Wendy Richard of EastEnders. Back in the 1820s Gas Company funds were misappropriated, illegal payments made to council officials and stock accounts falsified. Now, in more enlightened times, when bureaucratic malpractice is exposed and celebrated every day, urban-pastoral reservations hidden behind high walls win prizes for visionary planting schemes and restored municipal beds. Unnoticed, rough sleepers in thin bags utilise the stone terrace of the park café that has been shut for years. Late risers, having nothing much to rise for, burrow deep into dismal kapok-stuffed cocoons, while dog-accompanists use ballistic/prosthetic devices to hurl soggy yellow-green tennis balls for their hunt-and-retrieve pets. And the stoic Chinese couple, accomplishing their own version of the Long March, scorch rubber treadmarks around the padlocked novelty of the pristine football pitches. Artificial grass is better than the real thing, tougher, each blade individually painted. False chlorophyll dazzles like permanent dew, the permafrost of conspicuous investment. Some of the rough sleepers are not elective invisibles, victims of property mania or traumatised war veterans: they are construction workers, possibly Polish, saving their wages and choosing to kip down close to where the action is. The tsunami of speculative capital, wanton destruction, hole digging; the throwing up of apartment blocks, dormitory hives, warehouse conversions along the murky waterways. A new development calling itself Adelaide Wharf, and appearing very much like an aircraft-carrier that has ploughed into a wood yard, replaced a long-standing cold-store operation. 'With its 147 units (prices up to £395,000), this is a tremendous example of aspiration coming to fruition,' says Stephen Oakes, area director for English Partnerships. Inch by inch, the working canal between Limehouse Basin and the Islington tunnel has become a ladder of glass, connecting Docklands with the northern reaches of the City. Footballers, with loose change to invest, are rumoured to be buying up entire buildings as investment portfolios; many of these gaudy shells, low-ceilinged, tight-balconied, are doomed to remain half-empty, exhibitions of themselves. The look is mirthlessly playful, Ikea storage boxes gimmicked out of swipe-cards and toothpicks. The urban landscape of boroughs anywhere within the acoustic footprints of the Olympic Park in the Lower Lea Valley has been devastated, with a feverish beat-the-clock impatience unseen in London since the beginnings of the railway age. Every civic decency, every sentimental attachment, is swept aside for that primary strategic objective, the big bang of the starter's pistol."

Full article here and here

Best laid plans...

2008-07-06T20:10:00.003+01:00

From Scotland on Sunday:

Glasgow 'will struggle to sell properties' to raise £100m for 2014 Games

Published Date: 06 July 2008
By Nathalie Thomas

CONCERNS are growing that Glasgow City Council will be unable to raise up to £100m towards the 2014 Commonwealth Games due to a decline in interest for regeneration projects.

The council is hoping to raise funds from the sale of 56 "surplus sites". But commercial property experts warn that, given the current state of the market, it is unlikely the properties, which include several former schools, will achieve anywhere near the expected sum.

The market has been slowing down and prices falling and few expect a recovery until next spring at the earliest.

There are also mounting fears that the council will not be able to find an appropriate private sector partner for the sales, which it is proposing to carry out through a joint venture. With many of the major building companies suffering severe financial strain, sources say there is no appetite for the project. If it fails to get off the ground, sources warn that the council is going to fall short of the £375m cost of the Games. Around 80% is expected to be met by the Scottish Government, with Glasgow City Council providing the rest. One leading commercial property consultant said: "I'm not sure there is an appetite for the joint venture in the commercial sector. If it doesn't happen, they are short of a fairly serious capital receipt."Another source said: "Companies that tend to get involved with these joint venture projects rely on banks and debt financing, and that's incredibly hard to get your hands on these days. It doesn't surprise me that they'll experience difficulties."

David Bell, director of the public sector group at CB Richard Ellis, warned that regeneration projects are always the first to fall by the wayside during economic downturns due to the higher risks involved. "They are now really quite peripheral in this market," he said.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said the process of finding a joint venture partner is "still ongoing". She added that the money raised through the sales will go towards supporting "a number of the council's priorities", including the Commonwealth Games, but a specific proportion of the £100m has not been earmarked for the sporting event in 2014.

The deadline for proposals was March 14. It is understood the council wants to transfer all 56 surplus sites to the new joint venture by the end of the current financial year.

The news comes just a few weeks after Lend Lease, the Australian developer working on the £1bn Olympic Village in London, admitted it has so far not been able to raise the £450m it needs to fund the site in Stratford. Lenders are increasingly reluctant to back the project because they fear falling property prices could lead to them not regaining all of their money.

And from Halifax, more news about the failed Canadian bid:

Bid report bang on — councillors

By JENNIFER STEWART Staff Reporter
Sun. Jul 6 - 11:29 AM

A handful of municipal councillors feel the findings of an independent review of Halifax’s failed 2014 Commonwealth Games bid are bang on.

The councillors that The Chronicle Herald spoke to Saturday admitted that they haven’t had a chance to read the entire report, which was released to the public Friday. But they said everything they have heard so far backs up their earlier complaints about the bid process.

"I don’t disagree with anything they said," Coun. Andrew Younger (East Dartmouth-The Lakes) said of the review by the Public Policy Forum in Ottawa. "Their findings are exactly the same things that myself and a number of other councillors complained about from early on."

The nine-page report highlights a number of problems with Halifax’s $1.7-billion bid, primarily its lack of transparency.

"It was very frustrating," Mr. Younger said. "I’m sure members of the legislature felt the same way. MLAs, councillors, none of us knew anything about the bid.

"We’re supposed to be the guardians of the public purse, yet nobody would tell us anything."
Coun. Gloria McCluskey said it was "ridiculous" to think that everything had to be kept hush-hush so as not to tip off the competing cities of Glasgow, Scotland, and Abuja, Nigeria.

"Something that’s handled like that, to me, is doomed to failure," said the Dartmouth Centre representative. However, Ms. McCluskey said not all the blame can be put on the bid committee.
"Everybody was sworn to secrecy," Ms. McCluskey said. "That’s the biggest mistake I made was agreeing to that going the way it went."

Coun. Sheila Fougere (Connaught-Quinpool) said the failed bid should be used as a learning tool.
"No matter how you look at it, from beginning to end, it ended up being a huge disappointment," she said. "But there are lessons to be learned from it.

"Secrecy and lack of transparency . . . it just breeds distrust and discontent. Whereas if you put everything above board, people have the opportunity to not only react but to perhaps react in a positive way."

Mr. Younger agreed any Canadian city thinking about hosting an international event could learn a lot from this, especially what needs to be in place before the city signs on.

"I don’t think as a country we can be bidding on international events of this magnitude without early in the process knowing how much the federal and respective provincial governments are going to contribute to the bid and what facilities are needed," he said.

Mr. Younger also criticized Ottawa for only offering money for recreation facilities if Halifax agreed to take on the bid.

"If a community needs facilities, the federal government should be there as a partner, regardless of whether there is a major event coming," he said.

( jstewart@herald.ca)

Halifax Games would have cost $2.2B

2008-07-05T21:28:00.001+01:00

From the Times and Transcript of New Brunswick:

HALIFAX - The 2014 Commonwealth Games would have cost $2.2 billion if Halifax had followed through on its bid and been chosen as host, Nova Scotia's health promotion minister said yesterday.

Barry Barnet made the revelation after a report released yesterday stated that even the people who signed the cheques on the cancelled Halifax bid were kept in the dark about escalating costs.

The Nova Scotia government and Halifax Regional Municipality pulled the plug on the bid in March 2007 after the estimated cost reached $1.7 billion. Glasgow, Scotland, eventually won the Games.

Do the maths

2008-06-16T13:44:00.003+01:00

Glasgow contribution to the Commonwealth Games will be £56 million - just remember that has nothing to do with this:

Council set for £50m cutbacks

GLASGOW City Council will have to slash £50million from its budget over the next couple of years, council leader Steven Purcell has revealed.

A number of factors means that next year the city will have almost £20m less than it needs to meet essential spending.

The following year the shortfall is almost £30m.

To avert a potential cash crisis, directors in council departments have been told to find £25m of savings for each of the following two years.

The bulk of the cuts will be in education and social work, the departments that have the largest budgets.

However, Mr Purcell today made three big pledges to city residents and council staff. He promised:

Frontline services would not be hit by the cuts.

Only around 25 middle management jobs would go through natural wastage and voluntary redundancy. There would be no compulsory redundancies.

The staging of the Commonwealth Games would not be at risk.

Mr Purcell has taken the unusual step of telling staff and opposition councillors of the financial pressures facing the council over the next couple of years.

He said: "No matter how difficult public finance gets over the next few years we are committed to providing the core services that are important to the city. These are: getting people back into work, improving educational attainment and better public health."

Mr Purcell said the jobs axe was likely to fall on some of the council's 250 middle managers, but the vast majority of the council's 32,000 staff would be safe.

In recent years, the council has merged departments, slashing a substantial numbers of senior managers, and has cut the number of highly paid directors from 10 to five.

In 2006/07 the city was forced to slash spending by £60m and cut a further £40m the following year.

Mr Purcell said the £25m cut needed next year represented only 2.5% of the overall budget, against cuts of 4-6% in previous years.

A priority for the council in the next couple of years will be to continue streamlining services, ensuring they are as effective as possible.

But Mr Purcell said funding for the 2014 Games would not be at risk from the cuts.

Over the next six years, the council will fund £56m of the £288m cost of staging the Games, with the remainder being picked up by the Scottish Government.

The council leader defended funding of the event and said the long-term benefit to the city would be massive.

He said: "For example, the Games is allowing us - for the first time since the rebuilding of the city after the Second World War - to guarantee every school leaver a modern apprenticeship next year, with a substantial number of them in construction."

This year, the council will spend £2.5billion delivering a wide range of services, from education and social work to parks and planning.

But it has come under financial pressure in a range of areas, including higher than anticipated inflation, the credit crunch and soaring bills for fuel, gas and electricity.

The council will also be hit by the huge number of police officers expected to retire in the next couple of years.

In 2009-10 it will have to find almost £10.8m more to fund its share of the cost of paying police pensions, bringing its total contribution towards the running of Strathclyde Police to £121m.

The following year, the higher than normal number of retiring officers will mean the council will have to find a further £7m.

Despite the gloomy cash situation, Mr Purcell is determined the people of Glasgow will not suffer.

Mr Purcell believes the bulk of the savings can be made by improving efficiency and reducing bureaucracy within the council.

He said: "When I became leader of the council three years ago one of the things I wanted the council to start doing was to have a real examination of every penny we spend and to do that on a regular basis."

8:02am Thursday 22nd May 2008

Edinburgh to demolish Velodrome

2008-03-21T16:55:00.003Z

From Cycling Weekly:

EDINBURGH COUNCIL TO DEMOLISH MEADOWBANK VELODROME

Thursday 20th March 2008 - Keith Bingham

Edinburgh's Meadowbank Velodrome, built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games, is to be demolished and luxury flats built on the site.

But while campaigners have reacted angrily, accusing Edinburgh Council of ignoring public opinion and sporting legacy, the Scottish Cycling Union has pulled its punches recording only “disappointment at the decision of Edinburgh City Council to demolish Meadowbank Velodrome.”

Jackie Davidson, SCU Performance Director, admitted to Cycling Weekly that they didn't want to have doors shut in their face as they go looking for backing to support a broader provision of cycling facilities.

“What we've been working towards in terms of a facilities strategy is looking across the whole of the provision for the East of Scotland. “And it's clear from what's happening with Edinburgh there are major challenges both in terms of financing their programmes and I think that has been an influencing factor.”

The future of the Velodrome has been in the balance for the past 18 months, but the word was that if it were to go, a replacement would be provided. But whatever plans there may have been for this - and there was talk of a concrete bowl – it is suspected that Meadowbank's fate was decided when Glasgow decided to build an indoor velodrome by 2010 and won the bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

So while Glasgow gains, Edinburgh loses.

Campaigners say Edinburgh Council have decided it preferred a legacy of short-sighted downsizing and sell-off, over the public demand that Meadowbank be upgraded in its entirety and that this public land remains in public hands.

So much for Edinburgh's lasting Games legacy. Meadowbank has twice hosted the Commonwealth Games, in 1986 as well as '70.

In the 1970 Games Scotland's Brian Temple won silver in the 10-mile scratch race. In 1986, Scotland's Eddie Alexander took bronze in the sprint, while England's Colin Sturgess won silver in the individual pursuit and Chris Boardman led England's team pursuiters to bronze. Meadowbank also launched two Scots on their respective trajectories to Olympic and World titles.

Both Chris Hoy and Craig MacLean were introduced to track cycling there. Hoy went on to become Scotland's first Olympic champion in 24 years. After 38 years, perhaps that is to be Meadowbank's legacy to the sport.

"Sports closures could affect Games benefit"

2008-02-23T20:58:00.002Z

From the Press & Journal

SPORT CLOSURES COULD AFFECT GAMES BENEFIT

Date : 23.02.08

Concerns have been raised that plans to close sports facilities in Aberdeen will impact on the benefit the Olympic and Commonwealth Games will have on the north-east.

Labour MSP Richard Baker has called on the SNP Government to take urgent action because the measures proposed by the city council could put off teams establishing training camps in the area.

He is also very concerned that the "shock and despair" already felt by people in the city over the measures to save £27million will not inspire young people to consider taking part in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The Liberal Democrat/SNP-led council has agreed to cut funding for sports facilities and other services to save cash.

Bon Accord Baths is to close while the Lynx Ice Arena will be shut for a year, and many other leisure centres and pools in the city will be forced to reduce services.

Mr Baker, a north-east MSP, is raising his concerns with Sport and Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell because First Minister Alex Salmond has stated that the entire country will benefit from the two major events.

The council has previously stated it would be very keen to host training camps in the city.

Mr Baker said he had been inundated with correspondence from "furious" members of the public, stunned by the council's decision.

Opening times and staffing will be reduced to varying degrees at pools in Dyce, Bridge of Don, Hazlehead, Kincorth and Linksfield, and at the Sheddocksley and Jesmond sports centres.

2008-02-08T21:10:00.000Z

From the Evening Times: Travellers face move from site on Games land

TRAVELLERS are to be moved off a site in Glasgow's East End to make way for the Commonwealth Games.

Families in Dalmarnock Road face being relocated after the city landed the 2014 event.
Ten families of showpeople live on the site, which is council-owned, but there is also uncertainty for scores more showpeople who work for fun fairs and live on other sites around the East End.
Nine of the area's other 20 travellers' sites are council-owned, with the rest in private hands. In total the East End is home to 175 travelling families.

The showpeople are having talks with Glasgow City Council about when and where they will be required to move.

Philip Paris, chairman of the Scottish branch of the Showmen's Guild, said residents were frustrated about the time it was taking to agree a solution.

His mother, who is 82, has never lived in a house and is a resident of the Dalmarnock Road site.
Mr Paris said: "The council has identified a couple of potential alternative sites, but it will not tell anyone where they are.

"We do not want to stand in the way of progress, but it is a little annoying nothing more definite is coming forward."

The travellers are also worried discussions have been going on so long that the council could issue a Compulsory Purchase Order on the land, leaving them homeless.

Most of the residents live on the Dalmarnock Road site all year round and travel to fairs in the summer. Their children go to local schools.

An athletes village is to be built in Dalmarnock, which will provide accommodation for 7000 athletes during the three weeks of the Games. After the event the accommodation will be sold to housing associations.

A spokesman for the council's Clyde Gateway project, which is spearheading the area's regeneration, confirmed it was discussing alternative sites for the families.

But he refused to reveal their location because it was a "commercially sensitive issue".
He said a Compulsory Purchase Order would be used only as a last resort.

8:35am Thursday 7th February 2008

By Sarah Swain

Concern deepens over cost of Commonwealth Pool revamp

2007-12-24T12:16:00.000Z

From the Edinburgh Evening News:

Concern deepens over cost of Commonwealth Pool revamp

By Alan Roden
THE cost of a major refurbishment of the Royal Commonwealth Pool is set to soar above its £37 million estimate, officials have warned.

It is feared the project carries a major risk of "unexpected defects and problems that will be uncovered" as the scheme progresses, due to the complex nature of the A-listed building. Inflation in the building industry is also running high.Delays – caused partly by uncertainty over the future of Meadowbank Stadium – have led to costs rising by around £185,000 a month. The council has agreed to proceed with the pool revamp as a "priority", but part of the Meadowbank site is still likely to be sold to fill a £10.5m funding gap.The pool scheme involves a major overhaul, but is deemed more urgent than Meadowbank because Edinburgh is due to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games diving competition on Glasgow's behalf.

Council leaders said it would "take time" to redevelop the city's sports facilities following years of "under-investment" by Labour.But opposition councillors today claimed the administration was to blame.

Labour's culture and leisure spokesman, Paul Godzik, said: "The inability of this administration to show some leadership and take big decisions clearly has a cost. Financially, costs are rising daily due to the continual delay in getting these projects started, yet there could also be a cost in terms of the quality of sports facilities."While the Royal Commonwealth Pool project will go ahead, it is clear that the administration is looking to cut back on other facilities, and will not deliver the ambitious plans which were outlined by Labour that would have taken the city's sporting facilities into the 21st century." His Tory counterpart, Gordon Buchan, urged the administration to return to the original plans for a complete sell-off of Meadowbank, which would fund both the pool revamp and a new replacement sports facility at Sighthill.

"We won't know what we're facing until we start opening up the Royal Commonwealth Pool building," he said. "Construction inflation is also running at around six per cent. There are
major cost risks, and it is time the administration stops trying to fudge the issue and deals with what it can deliver – otherwise Glasgow will host the diving competition."In a report to councillors, council chief executive Tom Aitchison said there has been "general support" among residents for a refurbishment of the Royal Commonwealth Pool (RCP).

However he warned of "a substantial risk" that the construction costs could be "considerably higher than currently quoted".The city's sport leader, Deidre Brock, added: "The lack of investment and lack of care for Edinburgh's sporting venues under Labour for over two decades has left those venues in a state of incredible disrepair. That lack of concern for Edinburgh and for the precious assets of this city is why the voters turned against Labour in May. It's going to take a long time to put things right, but we've started."

"Building more urban motorways is not the future"

2007-12-14T13:51:00.000Z

From the Herald:

Transport planning for Games is flawed

The recent correspondence about the M74 and Glasgow subway extension (Letters, December 12 and 13) for transport to the 2014 Commonwealth Games contrasts with London's approach to the 2012 Olympics.

The London Olympic Delivery Authority aims to encourage 100% of spectators to travel to the Olympics by public transport, walking and cycling.

Transport links will be transformed around Stratford, with extensions to the London Docklands Light Railway, a rebuilt East London line, and 140mph trains on High Speed Line 1.

In marked contrast, in Glasgow the M74 extension is described by James Kelly MSP as a "crucial part of the Commonwealth Games infrastructure". In fact, this urban motorway, a product of 1960s transport thinking, would choke the local roads around the Games venues with more traffic and parked cars, giving an international demonstration of how not to plan for major events.

Glasgow has the biggest rail network outside London. Most of the Games venues are near railway lines. Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has an excellent opportunity to re-establish Glasgow as the "dear green place" by providing new stations to serve the sporting locations. As discussed by your correspondents, the best way to serve Parkhead is by extending the Argyle Line and introducing a new fleet of high-performance urban Metro trains on a Dalmuir-Parkhead east/west route.

This would also serve the Scotstoun and SECC locations and connect at Glasgow Central with trains to Mount Florida for Hampden. The planned National Hockey Centre could also be served from the Argyle Line by reopening the station at Glasgow Green. The Ibrox and Kelvinhall venues are near subway stations.

In a city with a low level of car ownership and a poor health record, building more urban motorways is not the future.

The aim of politicians should be to ensure that the Common-wealth Games leave a lasting legacy of urban regeneration and sustainable transport.

Dr John McCormick, Chairman, Scottish Association for Public Transport, 11 Queens Crescent, Glasgow.

And Bill Forbes comments:

One flaw in the transport planning for the Commonwealth Games may be that we are only now appearing to address the issue.

The stated Games Budget is £298 million (SOURCE – Glasgow2014 web site ).

The “SPT has been told by consultants Grant Thornton that the new route to the east will cost between £60m to £120m . Those costs could soar , however, if there are any problems with the tunnels…” (SOURCE – The Herald 12/12/07 )

Another flaw may be that the SPT appear now to be taking a lead on the matter:

SPT chairman Alistair Watson today revealed: "We will deliver the East End extension for 2014. I am being unequivocal about that ." (SOURCE – Evening Times 12/11/07 )

Does anybody else get this uneasy feeling that we have another Partick Interchange in the offing?

London Olympics: "A robust baseline"

2007-12-10T15:33:00.000Z

Not to worry - the costs of the London Olympics aren't really "rising", in fact they are "robust". While the original bid was put at over £2 billion, we now hear the costs will be more like £9 billion...or something like that. Don't worry - it all makes sense! And of course, there will be nothing like this sort of accounting confusion when it comes to Glasgow's Commonwealth Games!

From the BBC:

2012 Olympics budget 'on track'

The cost of hosting the Olympics has already risen dramatically.Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has said a "thorough assessment of all potential risks" has backed the £9.325bn budget for the games she outlined in March.
In a written statement to MPs Ms Jowell said "months of careful scrutiny have confirmed" the budget - four times the original estimate - would be enough.
She said: "The project has high levels of public support and is on track."
The statement came as the BBC learned a report to ministers said there was a 20% chance the budget would rise again.

"Now we look ahead to what will be a dramatic 2008, with the first building work starting on the Olympic Park site"
Tessa Jowell
Olympics minister

March: Budget hits £9.3bn
MPs attack Olympic costs
Send us your comments
Latest budget in detail

In November, the House of Commons public accounts committee attacked ministers over planning for the event, saying foreseeable costs had been "grossly underestimated".

Ms Jowell, who has faced widespread criticism over the escalating cost of the games, has now set out the most detailed breakdown of expected costs so far.

It shows that £500m of the contingency budget has already been allocated to the Olympic Development Agency.

Ms Jowell also said a "detailed account of progress across the Olympic programme" would be provided when the first Olympic annual report was produced in the New Year.

She said the delivery authority would also issue "a summary of the baseline scope, aligned budget, programme and risks".

'Obvious omission'

These figures "will provide a robust baseline for future reporting", she said.
Ms Jowell told MPs: "This statement shows... the budget is consistent with the funding package I outlined in March.

"Months of careful scrutiny have confirmed that the Olympic Delivery Authority has the money it needs to deliver the venues and infrastructure for a terrific summer of sport, as well as leaving a long-term legacy for one of the most deprived parts of the country.

HOW 2012 ESTIMATES HAVE CHANGED
2003: Consultants Arup put total cost of building and staging the Games at £1.796bn
2003: Tessa Jowell launches bid in May telling MPs it will cost £2.375bn - including a 50% contingency
2005: Bid succeeds in July with "prudent" estimate of preparing for games of £2.4bn
2006: Tessa Jowell says Olympic Park costs up to £3.3bn
2007: Olympic Park budget now at £5.3bn - including regeneration and infrastructure
2007: Total budget, including contingency, security and tax, reaches £9.35bn
(full article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7135824.stm)

"Cloud cuckoo land from the games bid"

2007-11-25T12:13:00.000Z

City Strolls noticed this amazing bit of news (Glasgow car free? I'll be thinking of that next time I'm stuck on the bus in a traffic jam...):

Cloud cuckoo land from the games bid "Games car free " Why are the trying to build a dirty great motorway then? "Most of Glasgow's venues would be within 20 minutes of the athletes' village in the East end of the city. By 2014 the 500 million pound M74 extension, the Glasgow Airport rail link, and the 69 million pound East End regeneration route should be completed. More than 10,000 athletes, officials and journalists will travel in buses using dedicated “Games Lanes” where traffic lights will turn green to speed up journeys "

We Don't Back the Bid - Sign here

The enforcers who will police the Games

2007-11-18T22:08:00.000Z

A letter in the Glasgow Herald points out some interesting features of the Commonwealth Games Bill:

The enforcers who will police the 2014 Games

In June 2007, the draft Glasgow Commonwealth Games Bill was published, with responses to be sent to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games Bill office in Edinburgh. However, this draft (as far as I am aware) does not seem to have been circulated publicly in Glasgow - not even through the public library system. As the closing date for consultation responses was September 21, it seems we have had our consultation.

The full Glasgow Commonwealth Games Bill has now been tabled.

This remarkable document is intended to designate and regulate "Games offences". Outdoor trading and advertising will be banned in the vicinity of Games venues, unless authorised by the organising committee.

Interestingly, possession of a valid street trader's licence does not constitute authorisation to trade in terms of the Bill. In fact, Clause 7 expressly states: "It is not a defence for a person charged with a trading offence that the person has a trading licence whether granted before or after this section comes into force."

Similar restrictions apply to advertisers. Still, Clause 8(1) provides: "Councils must seek to work with existing street traders to try to identify alternative trading arrangements during the times when the trading offence applies." That's a less than cast-iron guarantee that licence-holders will not lose out.

According to Clause 21: "Games offences are to be enforced in accordance with this Act." In pursuance of which, the Bill provides (Clause 22) for the recruitment of inspectors of weights and measures as "enforcement officers". In exercising the General Enforcement Power laid out in Clause 23 (1), "an enforcement officer may take such reasonable steps as " (2) " may include seizing, concealing or destroying anything which the officer reasonably believes to be an infringing article".

Now, in my understanding, enforce is not equivalent to prevent. In fact, it generally means the reverse. Hence, if passed into law, this Bill will both give enforcement officers licence to commit "Games offences" and authorise them to grab, hide and/or destroy the evidence.

Worse, any have-a-go hero attempting to uphold the law will himself be committing an offence for, as Clause 32 explicitly provides: "It is an offence (a) intentionally to prevent or obstruct an enforcement officer from doing anything which the officer is authorised or entitled to do by virtue of this Act "

If Orwell were alive today, I think he would extend his satirical observation that "war is peace" to include the notion that "law is crime" and "crime is law".

Brian D Finch, 56 Fingal Street, Maryhill, Glasgow.

Halifax report: Consultants ate up millions

2007-11-18T22:03:00.000Z

From the Nova Scotia Chronicle:

Commonwealth Games consultants ate up millions

$9.5 million went into $3.4-million bid

By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter

Almost all the money for a $3.4-million bid book that could never be delivered to the Commonwealth Games Federation in England covered consulting and professional fees, says an accounting report on Halifax’s defunct proposal to host the 2014 Games.

The expense is noted in an accounting review released Friday by the provincial government and Halifax Regional Municipality. The report says $9.5 million was spent putting together the proposal.

Canada’s bid for the event died in March when the municipality and province pulled their support because of the estimated $1.7-billion price tag for hosting the Games.

More than $2 million in bid money was spent on fees for such professionals as architects. Another $1 million went to consultants.

The bid book from Halifax was to be a detailed proposal presented to the federation in London in May. Last week, the 2014 Games were awarded to Glasgow, Scotland, which beat Abuja, Nigeria, in the competition for the sports spectacle.

People who opposed metro’s plan to stage the event complained the bid process was too secretive. (full article here)

News roundup

2007-11-16T12:07:00.000Z

Some of the latest Commonwealth Games news:

Building.co.uk: Glasgow to set up Commonwealth ‘ODA’

Glasgow council searches for chief executive to manage the £500m construction programme for the 2014 Games

Glasgow council is preparing to set up a delivery vehicle similar to the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to manage its £500m construction programme for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. (story continues at link)

Telegraph: Funds and Games

Gordon Brown congratulated the Scottish government as warmly as he could in the House of Commons yesterday for its role in helping to secure the 2014 Commonwealth Games for Glasgow.

However, Mr Brown may not be so quick with the pleasantries if Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, comes knocking on his door asking for money. (story continues at link)

Scotsman: Email victim Webb wants explanation

EDINBURGH hammer-thrower Shirley Webb has asked for a meeting with Scottish Athletics after being dumped by e-mail while working as an ambassador for Glasgow's Commonwealth Games bid. (story continues at link)

Any interesting stories? Drop us a line.

"Massively underwhelmed"

2007-11-14T10:19:00.000Z

From Michael Greenwell:

"The coverage of the reaction of the public to Glasgow winning the bid for the 2014 commonwealth games seemed to be coming from a different planet.

"The most common attitude I was getting from people was one of being massively underwhelmed[1] by the whole affair.

"What was absurd about it was that in workplaces all around the country arrangements were made to make sure the decision was broadcast immediately after it was made.

"In my own place of work there was a directive issued that all TVs had to be turned to the correct channel for the announcement. Similarly, bus and train stations had to make the announcement.

"What were they expecting? Scenes of jubilation akin to VE day? People throwing each other in fountains and filling them with wine [tonic variety]?

"I took a look out to the canteen where the TVs are in my place of work just to see what happened.

"NOT ONE person even noticed. They all just carried on eating their lunch.

"This is not the picture painted by the BBC which went into its full voice of the nation mode as it told us about scenes of jubilation that absolutely no one I know saw, joined in with, or even really cared about.

"They showed the above picture, saying that 2000 schoolchildren were there celebrating. I am prepared to bet that they were taken there by their schools who in turn were invited to do it by the city council as a photo op and were probably happier about the day off than anything else.

"The plan is to use the games as an opportunity to regenerate the east end of Glasgow. Whilst this is a decent goal in and of itself the history of regenerating that area has not been a particularly succesful one and the ability of events of this kind to provide useful developments for a city is overhyped.

"Lets take a look at the history…

"After World War 2 many European cities followed a particular path of regeneration. This was a necessity after the bombing and havoc wreaked by the war.

"Roughly put, the inner cities were cleaned up and gentrified. Many excellent buildings that could have been saved were knocked down and the poorer people who lived in many of these places were moved out into newly built housing schemes on the outskirts of the cities in question. This happened in many places.

"However, once moved to the newly built places many problems became apparent. Although the housing was built, appropriate facilities were not. There was a lack of jobs and those who had work usually had to go into the cities to get to them. This should not have been such a problem apart from the fact that it also took a long time to put working public transport links into the new areas.

"Furthermore, the new houses were not well built and soon fell into disrepair - if you walk around Glasgow now you will find that the 100 year old buildings are doing fine and look good and the majority of the ones built in the 50s and 60s are derelict or just about to be.

"It is in many ways opposite to the model in the USA in that in Europe the inner part of the city tends to be the most looked after and is often extremely beautiful whereas a lot of the suburbs are in disrepair. In the USA it seems to be the suburbs doing well and the inner cities in disrepair.

"The strategy adopted after WWII is still at the roots of many of the social problems that Europe faces. Many people have been moved out of town, disenfranchised and left in substandard housing in an area with no facilities. If you want to look at the reasons for things like the Paris riots then this is one of your starting points.

"Is this, or something similar, going to happen again in the east end of Glasgow? I hope not, but we will have to wait and see. Many terrible, pointless and frankly stupid things have been done in the name of ‘development’.

"It is also very likely that a few people will make themselves a lot of money out of the games but the impact on the city as a whole and the east end in particular will not necessarily be positive. Again, I hope the games do have a positive outcome for the city but I am not at all convinced they will."

"F***-all for local people"

2007-11-11T12:08:00.000Z

From the Sunday Herald:

'Once an area of heavy industry and full employment, there are hopes commercial development can be sustained in Dalmarnock long after the games have gone. The creation of an urban regeneration company to attract investment is awaiting approval from the Scottish government, and the rosiest scenario predicts 20,000 new jobs in the east end over the next 20 years. It is hoped a new train station, a possible new subway link and the M74 extension will attract further spending power.

Yet scepticism remains. One shopkeeper voices the worst fears of a community used to disappointment: "It'll be boom-time for Glasgow, but there'll be f***-all for local people."

Professor Ivan Turok, of the University of Glasgow's urban studies department, warns that games-based regeneration would not work without listening to the needs of local people. "The people living in the area must benefit," he says. "The danger is that outside companies get the lion's share of contacts and profits.

"Regeneration is not inevitable. In places like Montreal and Edinburgh the games had a negative effect, saddling the cities with a financial burden."'

Delhi's Date with the Commonwealth Games 2010

2007-11-10T17:10:00.000Z

Glasgow isn't the only city to look forward to hosting an upcoming Commonwealth Games - Delhi will be doing so in 2010.

Here's one take on it by Amita Baviskar, Associate Professor of the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University, courtesy of Games Monitor:

"National prestige means that we are supposed to support the Games, wave our flag and feel proud. But prestige at what price? I am proud of Delhi, proud of its living heritage and culture. And I don’t want the Games or the mirage of a ‘world-class city’ to destroy what’s special about it. I want my money used for making Delhi better – for everyone, not just a handful of contractors, real estate developers, businessmen and politicians. Let’s cut the Games down to size and reclaim the city – for citizens and for the environment."

Full article here: http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/488

The pundits speak

2007-11-09T16:42:00.000Z

Richard Leyton listened in to the BBC commentary and noted this:

'On “costs spiralling out of control”, one of the studios pundits (Michael Kelly, the former Lord Provost) says “the history of these projects is that they do go out of control, so it’d be no surprise if [costs] overran“, but that “when people start moaning [they must remember] how depressed we would have been [if we’d not won the bid]“. Helpfully, “we need to ensure the money is spent effectively; it means investment in Glasgow, real investment in houses, sporting facilities, transport links” and that “it means people will get behind this and we’ll start changing the [active] culture“.

'Truly marvellous stuff. Couldn’t have done any of that without the games at all, could we? And I did hear that correctly: senior people are already preparing ourselves for overspend on the already huge ~~£288m~~increasing budget for this miraculous anti-depressant? Super! I feel better already.'

Glasgow wins...or does it?

2007-11-09T12:37:00.000Z

The announcement has just been made - Glasgow is now lumbered with the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

We'll be keeping an eye on how this all develops.

Commonwealth Games bid to be announced

2007-11-09T12:35:00.000Z

The bid is due to be announced 12.45 UK time.

Purcell prearing for Commonwealth Games failure?

2007-10-31T14:36:00.000Z

From glasgowLost:

Purcell prearing for Commonwealth Games Failure?

Just weeks before Culture and Sport Glasgow board member Steven Purcell leads a Glasgow City Council delegation on a massive £100,000 junket to Sri Lanka, glasgowLOST can exclusively reveal that Glasgow City Council has registered and recently renewed a number of domains linked to a possible bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The junket to Sri Lanka will include Purcell and 45 other delegates to see if Glasgow will win the right to host Commonwealth Games in 2014. Also included in the party of the privileged is former First Minister Jack McConnell's wife Bridget, who is of course the ill-qualified chief executive of Culture and Sport Glasgow. Yet another Culture and Sport Glasgow board member joining in the free festivities will be Councillor Archie Graham.

The huge bill for the jaunt, which will be met out of a £5 million bidding kitty, will include an estimated £30,000 bill at the exclusive, five-star Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo.

Openly Purcell and his cronies have been ultra-confident about securing the Games ahead of Abuja in Nigeria, but gL can reveal that plans have been going on behind the scenes to prepare for the possibility of Glasgow joining the bidding process for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, should Glasgow lose in Sri Lanka. Central to this planning has been the registration and recent renewal of the following domain names:

Glasgow2018.com
Glasgow2018.co.uk
Glasgow2018.org
Glasgow2018.org.uk

While acknowledging that winning the Commonwealth Games bid in 2014 would have the potential to deliver some positive benefits for Glasgow, it looks increasingly likely that those benefits will not filter down to either the people of Glasgow, or small- and medium-sized businesses in the city.

gL.

"Our parks face the axe"

2007-10-05T19:59:00.000+01:00

From the Evening Times:

Our park faces axe

FAMILIES are furious another vital piece of green space in Glasgow is being sold off for millions of pounds to developers.

The park, at the bottom of Broomhill Avenue near Partick, has been used for more than 50 years by children, dog walkers and for community events. It is also home to five trees and wildlife.

One angry resident has accused Glasgow City Council of a serious dereliction of duty - and of selling off the land in a bid to finance the city's bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Residents have learned the council-owned land is being sold as part of a package which includes the nearby Balshagray annexe of Anniesland College and the former Balshagray swimming pool - both of which are owned by Anniesland College.

Developers must submit proposals for the two-acre site, expected to fetch up to £5million, by October 17.

Chris Osborne, who has lived in Broomhill for seven years, said: "This is a real community amenity that is regularly used by the residents. It's the only nearby green space the kids have, apart from Victoria Park.

"The council views it as surplus land but they didn't ask anyone if it was surplus before they started negotiating with Anniesland college.

"Why was it six weeks from the developer proposals closing date before residents found out what was happening?

"This is opportunistic greed. There's no need for it to be sold, the council is selling off any land it can to fund the Commonwealth bid."

Kate Reid, who has lived in Broomhill for two years, said: "We fear a property developer will put up flats which will block out everyone's sunlight."

A spokesman for the council said: "It is absolutely not true to say that any monies raised from the sale of the land being jointly marketed is being used to fund the Commonwealth Games Bid.
"It is zoned as residential - not greenspace.

"The planning brief contains a number of options which either allow for demolition of the existing buildings and new development across the whole site, or refurbishment of the college building as flats with demolition of the pool and new build on the remaining land."

Earlier this week the Evening Times told of plans to build two four-storey blocks on two small parks on Leslie Street in Pollokshields.

And Green councillors have called for cash to be spent on more green spaces in the city.

To sign the online petition visit www.broomhillavenue.com

Open letter to the Commonwealth Decision Makers

2007-10-04T15:37:00.000+01:00

Finally, you have a chance to say if you don't want the Games in Glasgow. Sign the Open letter over at "We Don't Back the Bid" - here's the text of the letter:

"Open Letter to Commonwealth Games Decision Makers

The Commonwealth Games is being used by Glasgow City Council to sell off greenspaces, and to provide a justification to unsustainably redevelop the city in ways which will damage or destroy communities.

It is being used as an excuse by the council to demolish large areas of social housing to replaces these homes with private housing few can afford.

The bid for the 'Games has not led to the council investing in new sports facilities. In fact the revers has been true as many football pitches, parks and areas of green space continue to be eroded to make way for private housing.

Nobody asked the people of Glasgow if we wanted this. We the undersigned, certainly do not!

We call on those making the decision on which city finally wins the 'Games, to join with us and reject Glasgow's bid.

For the people of Glasgow, for the sake of our greenspaces, for the health of our communities, and for the future of our homes, please ensure Glasgow's bid for the Commonwealth Games is turned down!

We, the undersigned, reject the bid."

Halifax: Games bid details to be released after all

2007-09-14T12:48:00.000+01:00

From the Chronicle (Halifax):

Games bid details will be released after all

Decision frees previously confidential information

By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter

What a difference a week makes.

Taxpayers will get crucial information about Halifax’s defunct Commonwealth Games bid after all, regional council heard Tuesday.

The city’s chief administrative officer told councillors that after seeking legal opinions, the province and Halifax Regional Municipality will be disclosing details of the proposal for the 2014 Games such as all travel costs, consulting fees, organizational charts, job descriptions and costs of events.

"The bottom line is we are prepared . . . to release as much information as legally possible," Dan English told the politicians.

He said members of the public or media representatives will not have to go through freedom-of-information channels to get previously confidential information about the bid. The material has been kept under wraps since Canada’s bid was killed six months ago.
Last week, an information report for regional council indicated that details about the proposal, which died in March when the city and province pulled the plug due to the Games’ $1.7-billion price tag, would only be accessible to the major organizations involved in the bidding process.

Councillors didn’t debate the bid information issue Tuesday but plan to do so next week.
Mr. English said neither the municipality nor the provincial government will be forcing people to file freedom-of-information requests, unless a request for bid details is "unreasonable" because it requires a great amount of time and staff resources.

He said the province and city hall must abide by privacy legislation that may prevent some information from being disclosed by either party.

"We’ll pull some information together and provide it back to council," Mr. English said. "These will be routine releases. We won’t wait for somebody to ask; we’ll provide it."

Mr. English said the Halifax 2014 organizing committee is still a legal entity. Once it surrenders its certificate of incorporation on Nov. 1, he said, it officially ceases to exist.

The organizing committee has to appoint a liquidator to handle any outstanding financial matters, Mr. English told reporters. He said the city "is not anticipating any problems" during that transitional period.

Mr. English, the city’s top bureaucrat in the Halifax 2014 group, said the municipality doesn’t have its own copies of fiscal details of the bid. He said the city will be "acquiring the services of someone" to go into the committee’s Dartmouth office "and assemble a higher level of detail . . . as it relates to the financial statements."

A municipal staff report presented to regional council says organizing the documents "into a comprehensive inventoried package prior to its availability will ensure ease of access and timely responses to . . . requests for specific information."

The cost of the Commonwealth Games and the secrecy related to Canada’s bid were probably the most controversial elements of the proposal. Bid committee members had always refused to provide a factual price tag, saying they didn’t want their competitors to take advantage of the disclosure.

Games opponents often complained the Olympic-style event in Halifax, which is now a two-way contest between Glasgow, Scotland, and Abuja, Nigeria, would probably cost more than $1 billion. In December 2005, when metro beat its domestic rivals for the right to bid internationally for the 2014 Games, the cost was pegged at $500 million.

In February 2006, the cost estimate was between $750 million and $785 million. The cost of preparing the bid was $14.3 million.

( mlightstone@herald.ca)

’The bottom line is we are prepared . . . to release as much information as legally possible.’Dan EnglishHRM CEO

Update: You really, really do support the Games!!!

2007-08-20T09:15:00.001+01:00

An eagle-eyed Glasgow resident spotted this story in the Scotsman from 17th June:

"Survey shows weight of Scots backing for Glasgow 's 2014 Games bid

MOIRA GORDON

A NEW survey has underlined the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games bid team's claim that the city is sport-hungry, revealing that the proposal has significant support from the Scottish population. Of those polled, 78% said they were in favour of the multi-sports event being staged in the city and while 15% remain undecided, only 7% claimed they were actively against it." (article continues here).

78%! That's a really big majority in favour! Funny how there's no mention of this on the Back the Bid website (at least as far as we can see, and obviously we're not picking up everything we should). And we've had a hard time finding any mention of this poll anywhere else. (BTW, if anyone can do a LexisNexis search for us, please get in touch).

Anyway, our eagle-eyed Glasgow resident, who we'll call Citizen X, thought it was a bit odd as well and contacted the Back the Bid folks. Citizen X asked how the poll was carried out, and if she could see the actual poll results. This was the reply:

"Hi ...
The survey was carried out face to face in the city centre of Glasgow .
If you can give me a few more details on why you would like to see the full results I will find out if that is possible, is it a work or university project? Are there any particular areas you are interested in?"

"Why would you like to see the full results"?! Maybe because she's a resident of Glasgow?

As yet, there has been no reply, but Citizen X promises to keep us updated. If you're curious about the poll, why not get in touch with the Back the Bid crew. Let us know what you find out. And if you were one of the people polled "face to face", get in touch.

"Buy into" the Games!

2007-08-20T09:13:00.000+01:00

From City Strolls:

"Now we keep hearing how we are all going to have a wonderful experience when we "buy into" the Commonwealth Games - Olympic Games. We have heard nothing about who is going to make the most profit, how much "we" the citizens are going to get out of it. How the games are going to be policed. What will happen to the undesirables - homeless, beggars, folk who don't want to play the game, areas of deprivation, that can't be covered up for the tourists? You don't half buy into these corporate deals. When the ball starts rolling the decisions are taken out of the hands of the Purcell's, and put in the hands of business. The "Prison Industrial Complex" is the third biggest growth industry in America. Guess where Britain is getting most of its business ideas?"

Commonwealth Games boss "praises" Glasgow

2007-08-20T09:08:00.000+01:00

From BBC News:

Games boss praises Glasgow 's bid The president of the Commonwealth Games Federation has praised Glasgow's bid to host the sporting event.

Micheal Fennell said he was "very satisfied" that the city could maintain the standards required to make the games a success.

Only Scotland and Nigeria have remained in the race to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Commonwealth countries will decide on the winner in a secret ballot to be held in Sri Lanka in November.

Commonwealth Games Federation delegates do not get a vote.

Speaking on a visit to Glasgow, Mr Fennell said the city's image had changed for the better over the past 10 years.

"The level of commitment here is absolutely great," he said.

"The commitment has to come not just from sportspeople but also from government, the people, the city council, to host the games requires a strong commitment from everyone."

Let Mr Fennell know how you feel - drop him a line: mfennell@cwjamaica.com

Thanks to Glasgow Residents Network for spotting this one.

"Our research shows you really do support the Games!"

2007-08-11T12:37:00.000+01:00

So, you don't back the bid, eh? Well, as it happens you're wrong. And the folks at the Back the Bid website can prove it - here's how they answered the Commonwealth Games Federation question about providing evidence of public support for the bid:

Question 2.11
Provide any evidence of the support of the national, regional and local population towards your project of hosting the Commonwealth Games, including possible other localities involved in your project.
• Opinion polls –
Please provide details of any polls carried out including:
dates, questions asked, sample size, area covered
• Referendum (if applicable)
• Awareness campaigns
• Other.
Public support
The Bid has received formal support from individuals and groups throughout Scotland. All local authorities, chambers of commerce, universities, national agencies and a vast range of other organisations in the public, voluntary and commercial sector have signed up. Many have been represented formally in the Bid structure.
Individuals, companies and organisations, schools, other educational establishments and sports clubs have been encouraged to Back Scotland’s Bid and so far total support represents over 1,700,000 people in Scotland and further afield [our emphasis]. Included in these numbers are some of Scotland’s best known figures from business, culture and sport. Glasgow and Scotland will continue to reflect the ride in hosting such a prestigious occasion.We will use it further to raise national and International awareness of the Games, the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Wow! "So far total support represents over 1,700,000 people in Scotland and further afield". That's a lot of people. Funny though, I don't remember being asked. And as you can see from the answer above, no opinion polls were referenced, and there will be no referendum - so how do they figure 1,700,000 people support the Bid?

Well, when we look at the Back the Bid website, all is revealed. At the moment, apparently the number of supporters is up to 1,745,159. And a helpful breakdown is given:

"Who is backing the bid?
87,424 individuals
1,437,920 companies & organisations, staff & members
32 local authorities
179,218 educational establishments, staff & students
40,565 sports clubs and their members"

So, actually 87,424 individuals have signed up to support the bid. The rest of the numbers are arrived at a little generously it would seem. And the individual backers are indeed from "further afield" - like New York, Copenhagen and, interestingly, Halifax, Nova Scotia. You may remember that Halifax's bid fell apart recently.

And we're not entirely confident about the Back the Bid website's information gathering abilities. The first listing under "companies & organisations" is " ,Edinburgh" (sic). Do they mean the entire city, or is there a company in Edinburgh with no name?

We'll be contacting the Back the Bid website and asking when they plan on carrying out some opinion polls.

Daylight robbery

2007-08-10T11:31:00.000+01:00

Image from City Strolls

"Final pish backing Scotland's bid"

2007-08-10T11:29:00.000+01:00

City Strolls links to a marvelous example of propaganda:

Final pish backing Scotland's Bid for 2014 Commonwealth Games - Steven Purcell and Nicola Sturgeon [video]

"Olympic sized horror in Greece"

2007-08-10T11:25:00.000+01:00

Thanks to City Strolls for this one:

'We are also getting bombarded with stories about how Athens is "a city transformed" by the Olympic Midas touch. As International Olympic Committee Chairman Jacques Rogge put it, "At Athens the legacy will be a new airport, new metro, new suburban train, ....this is a legacy the Greeks will be proud of."

'But don't let the gold, silver, or soft-core sexism fool you: These Greek Olympics arrive bathed from head to toe in blood and dust.

'You won't hear about it in NBC's gauzy coverage, but Amnesty International estimates that anywhere between 40 and 150 construction workers died in work place accidents building Olympic facilities. The new center right government of Costas Karamanlis, terrified of international embarrassment for not having a modernized infrastructure, turned the screws to finish facilities by any means necessary

'In the last push of round the clock preparation alone, 13 laborers were killed at the service of making Athens, in the words of one Olympic official, "habitable for a global audience".
As Andreas Zazopoulos, head of the Greek Construction Workers Union said, `"We have paid for the Olympic games in blood."

'Their deaths aren't the only cause of local anger. The Karamanlis government has scuttled Greek law forbidding foreign personnel from carrying weapons in the country by allowing hundreds - perhaps thousands - of American, British and Israeli Special Forces soldiers to be armed to the teeth throughout Athens.

'City authorities are also, according to Democracy Now, "rounding up homeless people, drug addicts, and the mentally ill requiring that psychiatric hospitals lock them up. Also affected by Athens Olympic clean-up are refugees and asylum seekers, some of whom are being targeted for detention and deportation in the days leading up to the games." '

Read the whole story.

Financial trouble for the bid

2007-08-09T20:16:00.000+01:00

From GamesBid.com:

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Bid Has Financial Setback

A council report published Wednesday reveals that the cost of refurbishing the Royal Commonwealth Pool has increased by seven million pounds in less than two years. The Edinburgh News reports that the planned overhaul is now estimated to cost 36 million pounds and officials have warned it will rise again unless work starts next year.

The pool overhaul is a key part of Glasgow’s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, with diving events planned to take place in Edinburgh. The project would also feature an Olympic-standard 50-metre pool and diving arena, as well as a new “fun pool”.

The newspaper reports that the rising cost means the project faces a nine million pound funding “black hole” unless the Meadowbank Stadium is sold off for housing or the Scottish Executive bails the city out by covering the shortfall.

The reason for the increase is attributed to rampant inflation in the cost of construction projects across the UK.

The council now has pledged 27 million pounds for rebuilding the pool complex.

The refurbishment is scheduled to being next fall, is due for completion in 2010, and is earmarked as an official training camp for both the London 2012 Summer Games and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

If more funds are not committed the Edinburgh News reports that the only other realistic option is said to dramatically scale back the plans or shelve the project.

The "facts"

2007-08-05T17:06:00.000+01:00

Here are the"facts" about the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, acorrding to this bit of glossy propaganda from Glasgow City Council:

"*Just the facts

£250-300 million – the cost of staging the Games
80 per cent will be paid for by the Scottish Executive
£81 million – the net economic benefits to Scotland of staging the games
£30 million – the benefit to Glasgow’s economy
an estimated four per cent increase in tourism – excluding conference bookings
£5 million – the cost of bidding for the 2014 Commonwealth Games
£6 million – the net economic benefits to Glasgow of staging the Games
half will be paid for by the Scottish Executive
7,500 athletes and officials expected to attend
1,000 – net Glasgow jobs and 1,200 Scottish jobs
The five “core” sports which have been confirmed for the 2014
Commonwealth Games are: athletics, race swimming, lawn bowls, rugby 7s (men) and netball (women). A further 15 will be selected"

We'll be coming back to these figures as time goes on.

This sort of thing couldn't happen in Glasgow!

2007-08-05T16:44:00.000+01:00

From Not the Clissold Leisure Centre:

Watchdog warning over Olympics Games costs

"Significant uncertainties" over the London 2012 Olympics could drive the cost of the Games higher, the government's spending watchdog warns.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the £9.3bn budget announced in March was "sufficient to cover the estimated costs of the Games" as plans stood.

But the NAO report warned it was true only if "the assumptions on which the budget is based hold good".

(Via BBC NEWS England London Watchdog warning over Games costs: .)

It ain't over yet...

2007-08-04T18:29:00.000+01:00

Commonwealth Game delegates have been visiting and the Herald makes it all sound super-fabulous! - apparently formerly "dreary" Glasgow has been through a "metamorphosis". (A visitor to the Herald website commented: "Obviously never went out to the schemes then?")

But Abuja could be outbidding its rival, and there are some who think its about time for an African nation to host the games. And that makes sense, but we still can't help wondering what the people of Nigeria think of their government offering countries "a $125,000 grant towards travel and training."

Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games

2007-07-27T12:48:00.000+01:00

A blast from the past.

"Inappropriate to local needs"

2007-07-24T15:30:00.000+01:00

From the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a report issued in March 2007 about Halifax's failed bid for the Commonwealth Games:

Authors James Wildsmith (development economist), and Michael Bradfield (Professor of Economics, Dalhousie conclude that the “Halifax bid over-estimated the benefits and under-estimated the costs and that hosting the Games would be a very expensive way to generate sports and other infrastructure.”
“When governments support the development of major sporting events” according to Wildsmith “they need to ensure the public's best interest by taking into account the overall costs and benefits of the event.”
Bradfield points out that “the estimated economic benefit from the Halifax Games and spending by tourists was grossly over-estimated and the forecasting model used was an inappropriate tool to base an investment decision on.”
The appropriate tool according to the authors is a cost-benefit analysis which, while required by the federal government, was not completed for the Halifax bid.
The report’s review of the experience of other cities that have hosted major international sporting events concludes that legitimate benefits of these events are the legacy of the games facilities and the urban infrastructure built for them. But Wildsmith points out “games usually do not even cover the costs of running them and the pubic is left to foot the bill for infrastructure and long term maintenance.” The reality is, Bradfield adds, that “in most cities, the infrastructure is expensive to build, costly to maintain, and inappropriate to local needs.”

Read the report here.

Halifax: "A lasting legacy"

2007-07-24T13:10:00.000+01:00

Halifax, Nova Scotia was one of the original Commonwealth Games bidders, along with Glasgow and Abuja, Nigeria. Halifax's bid fell apart a few months ago however.

But in the spirit of openness and transparency that characterises our modern democracies, the president of Halifax's bid committee won't tell anyone what has become of the public money spent on this venture.

The organisers "spent $8.5 million [Canadian dollars] in taxpayers' money", but they won't tell the citizens who profited from this.

As the president says:

"All those documents are in the hands of the actual international bid committee at this particular point and I don’t know if they ever will be divulged," said Fred MacGillivray, president of the Halifax 2014 bid committee.

"That’s not a decision I will make."

Well that's perfectly clear isn't it? It just goes to show that these mega-events are designed to "provide a lasting legacy" in the words of our own Steven Purcell. It's just that the actual legacy may be a little different from the pretty pictures that are painted by our dear leaders. It doesn't really matter if the games happen or not, because the same people keep on making massive amounts of money from the public. It's amazing, schools need to close, but there's plenty of money to be thrown at mega-events.

See more here at the Chronicle Herald: http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/847205.html

Back the Common Good Games!

2007-07-23T13:51:00.000+01:00

Check out the "Common Good Games" over at City Strolls:

"The Commonwealth Games is a kickback from British Empire days. There is nothing Commonwealth about them, apart from the robbery of the commonwealth into the pockets of the not so common wealthy.

"Now it is much easier to convince people that the Commonwealth Games is a wonderful achievement for the city and we will share and benefit from winning this prestigious event. People like sport - so our kind and generous city administrators are giving the people what they want? Did they not give us "The Garden Festival" "Culture City" "City of Architecture" and many more accolades that we can be proud of? Did we not enjoy ourselves for a few weeks? Did not each succeeding council leader in turn promise that the profits from these events would be spent on creating social inclusion? And do we not see the benefits of this social inclusion all around us? All these beautiful flats along the river - nice hotels, bistros all the shopping retail outlets and Tesco's we could only dream of before these accolades became ours - the people's of Glasgow.

"It is through the profits of these events and achievements that we have been able to afford to welcome so many asylum seekers to our city. Have we not spread this wealth and social inclusion to the folk in Keppochhill, Parkhead, Hutchesontown, Bridgeton, Dalmarnock, Queenslie, Royston, Braidfauld, Ibrox, Barlanark, Ashfield, Milton, Wyndford, Easterhouse, Summerhill, to mention a few. OK perhaps a few of these places fell through the regeneration net. But we really promise this time. If you let use have the Commonwealth Games and allow us to sell of some old dusty buildings a few parks that no ones bothered about anyway. We will make sure everyone benefits. Honest."

The Scottish Executive: Protecting Intellectual Property Rights

2007-07-22T22:03:00.000+01:00

From the "intellectual property" focused website IPKAT:

Ambush marketing Scots style

A mini-consultation on the UKIPO website draws attention to the Scottish Executive’s draft provisions for a new Bill if it’s successful in its attempts to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Amongst the issues raised is the need to prevent possible ambush marketing, to whit, the Scottish Executive’s document contains the following:

Advertising
12. The draft Bill will make it a criminal offence to advertise within the vicinity of a Games event during the Games period without authorisation. This will be a summary offence punishable by a fine up to a maximum of £20,000. Following consultation with the Organising Committee, Ministers will designate in secondary legislation the areas and periods during which the restrictions will apply.

To make matters more fun, the Scottish Executive does not have the power to legislate on IP. IP provisions would need to come from Westminster. Consequently, the UKIPO is in discussions with the Scottish Executive as to what extra powers would be needed to prevent ambush marketing, and would welcome comments by email from interested parties by 21 September.

The IPKat says that the proposed provisions are rather harsh. They may be effective in preventing the advertising (although he wonders if £20K will deter larger companies), but the sums involved seem more focused on the harm suffered by authorised advertisers than on the ‘naughtiness’ of ambush marketers’ actions.

Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Costs Rise

2007-07-19T19:13:00.000+01:00

From GamesBids.com:

The Herald reports the cost of Glasgow staging the 2014 Commonwealth Games may be almost 10 million pounds higher than originally projected.

It would be a three per cent increase on the initial total cost of 288 million pounds and would be split 80/20 between the Scottish Executive and Glasgow City Council, reports the newspaper.

Bid director Derek Casey described it as “a contingency rather than a definite increase”.

The issue came up in the wake of a Commonwealth Games Federation evaluation visit. Casey said, “the commission had some supplementary questions and suggested that we might not hit our target for broadcasting rights. It is impossible to predict how new technology might impact on that market seven years from now. Though it could be worth more than we projected, the commission have suggested it might be worth less. So it is prudent to err on the side of caution. We are not just talking TV and radio. It is impossible to judge how the Internet might dilute these broadcasting rights”, he said.

He added, “it’s impossible to predict how the world may be in 2014, but the increase may not actually occur. With more countries coming in there is more potential revenue”.
Casey denied the increased costs signalled the start of a London Olympic-style escalation in costs.

He said, “there is no question of that whatever. This is well thought-out analysis and the review of costs has been extremely robust. We have been absolutely transparent on the figures throughout and when any chance has occurred we have immediately informed the public”.

The 9.5 million pound increase covers a range of issues highlighted by the commission – broadcasting, lighting, venue improvements including extra temporary seating, athlete catering and transport.

A success?: The 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games

2007-07-19T18:33:00.000+01:00

From Games Monitor:

"The Barcelona case represents these aspects extremely well. The 1992 Olympic Games are recorded as a success, even if they didn’t fulfil the expectations they claimed. The Olympic investments (in the broad sense, including some roads, coastal area renewal, cultural outlets, etc.), reached near 6 million euros (£4.1m) and 53% of that budget were public funds. But the economic activity that this money generated didn’t have a positive impact on the economic indicators of the Barcelona area.

"Between 1987 and 1991 the number of jobs created in the construction sector were only 33.000, a figure much lower than was expected considering that three quarters of the total investment went towards the construction sector. On top of this, all of them were temporary jobs. In the hotel and catering trade sector only 20.000 new jobs appeared and only lasted the duration of the event, again, much less than was expected. In the other sectors, the labour impact was zero (we tend to forget that the Olympic volunteers take on a great amount of tasks that would otherwise generate jobs). During 1992, the number of jobs began to fall.

"If we take a look at trade, we will see that during 1992 the sales rate decreased and the number of tourists that visited the city (a million and a half) was lower than expected and spent less money than it was estimated (exactly the same has happened in Athens this last summer). Also, the Barcelona event resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of people that visited other destinations in the Barcelona region.

"Basically, the only economic indicator that experienced an important impact as a result of the Olympic Games were price levels. Since 1988, city price levels increased more than in the rest of the region and more than 1% over the inflation rate in Spain. In the year before the Games, prices rose more than 3% over the prices of the rest of Spain. And if we think that the city gains profit from television broadcasting rights, we should not forget that it is the Olympic Committee who collects this money. In fact, the progressive growth of this source of money has turned the International Olympic Committee into a big (and suspicious) enterprise.

"How can we understand the minute economic impact and the lack of fulfilment of expectations? We could focus on the unbridled optimism that seems to encumber the people who do the impact studies, but, especially, we should focus on the limited frame in which the investments take place. If the demand related with the Olympic Games (or any other mega-event) takes up resources that would otherwise remain unused, it would be reasonable to expect an increase in employment, as well as an improvement of the economic indicators in general. Nonetheless, demand growth related with a mega-event doesn’t produce a net income, because it is a consequence of a mere change in the direction of the resource’s flow; that is, the resources go to a specific sector or a particular place but only because they are coming from another sector or place.

"The same goes for private capital: it tends to reduce its investments in other sectors or in other spatial areas. If we pay attention to the recommendations that the economic impact studies use to achieve a real net increase in profits, for example, to make the labour market more flexible, it is clear that the aim of obtaining net profits loses part of its appeal.

"Astonishingly, even if the mega-events don’t fulfil their expectations, this is never seen as a failure. Nobody seems to care for or to be surprised by this failure and the event ends with a sense of success. If we want to understand this incoherence, we should put aside the idea of competition as a heuristic tool and focus on the fabulous opportunity for businesses that follow urban transformations related with mega-events.

"Indeed, even the need to attract tourism and the desire to improve the competitive position of the city in the urban hierarchy seems a petty and secondary question if we compare this with the local elite’s focus on an easy profit. Of course, I am not saying that urban governments don’t want to promote the image of their cities with the purpose of generating employment, attracting enterprise headquarters and so on.

"Regrettably, one of our most serious problems is that urban governments seem to be convinced that, in a globalized world, there’s no point in promoting local enterprise development. They believe that the best they can do is to turn the city into an appealing zone for foreign investments. But the weakness of some of their strategies and the blindness with which they insist that these strategies actually work, make us question their genuine interests in the city.

"In short, we cannot forget that when a mega-event is organized, the money that really flows into a city is, in the first place, public money that falls into the hands of private businessmen. That’s why it is so difficult to understand where the city expects to obtain incomes by organizing a mega-event, and how little the urban government cares.

"When asked about the profits the city of Madrid may gain from hosting the Olympic Games, a representative for the Olympic candidature discussed broadcasting copyrights (that, as I have previously stated, benefit Olympic Committee and not the city) and the tourist appeal that the city will gain. He referred to the Barcelona case as a big success and talked about the millions of tourists that have visited Barcelona in the last years as a result of the Olympic Games. What he forgot to mention is that the flow of tourists into Barcelona has not been an easy or inexpensive achievement. The strategy has only worked with the help of a continuous and huge public investment in private business, for example, in the hotel sector, dangerously close to bankruptcy –all in all, another typical episode of socialization of losses and privatisation of profits.

"However, if we consider that the investors that promoted and financed a big part of the Olympic Games budget in Barcelona were real estate and construction companies, property developers, land speculators, finance companies and hotel and catering trade firms, we will understand that, indeed, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics can be considered a success. Of course, as a result of the Olympic candidature, Barcelona witnessed a frantic building activity, an increase in the housing and land prices and a huge urban transformation that entailed the conversion of a big amount of industrial land into service or housing plots.

"In fact, urban renewal related to a mega-event is not as much a secondary effect as it is a fundamental raison d’être. The recent Forum Universal de las Culturas that has taken place in Barcelona this summer confirms this idea: instead of organizing a mega-event that could reuse the installations built ten years ago as a result of the Olympic Games, the Barcelona government and elite have decided to invent a new kind of event whose major aim, no one can doubt, is urban transformation. This multicultural event has proven to be an effective excuse to finally implement urban renewal in the last coastal area of Barcelona that still has a low income population. A made-to-measure operation for the private capital that has been a real fiasco for the city. "

Don't back the bid!!!

2007-07-18T20:05:00.000+01:00

Glasgow City Council wants to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Why?

Well, they say that:

"The social and economic dividend of the Games will bring great benefits and provide a lasting legacy for the city and the nation." (Leader of Glasgow City Council, Steven Purcell).

And what are they planning to do to the city?

Tear down homes, demolish parks, etc etc.

Once again, public money is spent to make the rich richer, while the needs of the citizens are actively ignored.

So if you don't back the bid, get in touch.