Member Article

Olympic legacy commission reveals alarming north-south divide

The north of England has failed to receive a meaningful legacy from the 2012 London Olympic games, a parliamentary investigation has found.

Despite rhetoric from the organisers and the government, only London has seen real benefit.

The North East of England benefitted by just seven extra jobs and £19 million economic benefit, contrasted to the 15,000 extra jobs and over a billion pounds economic benefit in the capital.

Manchester, and the North West, fared slightly better - a Manchester City Council report suggested it fared better than any other city in the UK outside London.

Some 370,000 spectators watched Olympic football matches at Old Trafford, generating an estimated economic impact of £23 million.

The House of Lords Olympic and Paralympic legacy committee, though, found the benefits of the games, which cost an estimated £8.7 billion, to be inequitable north to south.

The Games also failed to significantly boost sports participation, and the north also fared worse than the south for tourism, with the games also failing to create a significant legacy outside of London.

Tourism chiefs admitted that more needed to be done to boost tourism outside of London, but said that any boost was welcome, wherever it came.

Committee chairman, Lord Harris of Haringey, declared the games an “outstanding success” despite the travails of legacy.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .