London Olympics Bill

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. I note that he joined the tribute that I made to Lord Coe and his colleagues at the beginning of my remarks. If he can contain himself, I shall come back to the point about the importance of the whole UK benefiting from London’s hosting the games. I want to set out for the House the shape of the Bill. The Bill does three things: it creates the public body that will get London ready to stage the games—the Olympic Delivery Authority; it provides the powers needed to meet IOC requirements for the way that the games and the Olympic environment are managed; and it provides the Mayor with an Olympic-specific power so that he can meet his obligations as the signatory to the IOC’s host city contract. I shall provide an outline of the scope of the legislation in each of those areas, before describing in more detail how some of the clauses will work. The Olympic delivery authority will be the body that manages the Government’s interest in the Olympic construction project and the public money going into it. It will make sure that the necessary infrastructure is in place by 2012, and that all the venues are built. Clauses 3 to 6 and schedule 1 allow for the authority to be created, grant it the necessary powers and functions and specify how it will be structured, organised and funded. Clauses 8 to 16 deal with transport, and establish the ODA as the co-ordinating authority for the Olympic transport plan. Existing transport authorities will be under a duty to co-operate with the ODA in order to implement the plan and to deliver Olympic transport services. The Bill also provides for the creation of an Olympic route network and the ODA will be able to issue traffic regulation orders on that network; for example, to establish Olympic lanes or parking restrictions. Obviously, the authority’s role will need to evolve over time. Before 2012, the ODA will focus on acquiring land—80 per cent. of which is already under public control—constructing venues and planning transport.