London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill

Let me begin by saying that the Opposition are delighted to support the legislation. I thank the Minister and his officials for the opportunity to be briefed ahead of this debate. As he clearly indicated, the provisions in the Bill will allow us to discharge the obligations that we undertook when, five years ago in Singapore, we won the right to host the Olympic games. I also welcome, as he did, the extent to which we have managed to maintain the contract for cross-party support for the Olympic games. For eight of the 10 years of this project I had the privilege of being the Minister with whom the buck stopped. It is not often in government that one is dealing with a project one knows will extend beyond a general election, and which therefore must be beyond the interests of the governing parties at the time, and held in trust for the people of this country. The Olympics are one such project. Let me turn briefly to the provisions in the Bill, which the Minister dealt with in considerable detail. The Bill builds on the 2006 Act, which was passed by the Government of whom I was part, updating and refining that legislation in light of operational understanding based on the enormously impressive planning, modelling and further consultation that has taken place since. The Bill updates the legislation in relation to advertising and trading regulations—crucial for public confidence—increases the maximum penalty for ticket touting, and deals with the management and enforcement of the Olympic route network and the additional traffic flows that the Olympics will create. This legislation represents another piece in the overall jigsaw of a multitude of measures that have been put in place to address the complexity of the logistical planning for the event and the degree of discipline required for operational delivery. As we know, the Olympic park was the largest public sector building project in the whole of Europe. In its success lie many of the tests that should be applied to future developments on such a scale. However, even at this stage, before the park is finally complete, we can have growing confidence that it is a statement about the confidence and competence of UK plc. I pay tribute, as the Minister did, to the leadership of the Olympic Delivery Authority, and in particular to John Armitt and David Higgins. Their partnership needs to be remembered for many years to come, as they are the people who made these Olympic games possible. I would also like to include all the staff of the Olympic Delivery Authority, which is, quite frankly, the best public service organisation that I have ever had the privilege to work with. Every single member of staff should take credit for that. I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to those who were my officials—they are now the Minister’s officials—in the Government Olympic Executive. They have done an outstanding and professional job in dealing with some of the difficult issues with the LOCOG budget and in maintaining both budgetary control across government and logistical consistency. There is still some time to go, so this is not a moment for over-congratulation on the achievement, but we can take satisfaction from the extent to which the UK Government, working with their partner agencies, have done a reasonably good job of confounding the chorus of scepticism that usually accompanies such major projects. Just to recap on progress, as the Minister said, this great project—the biggest and most complex construction project in Europe—is, at this point, on time and under budget. The building work across the park is almost complete. Two or three weeks ago the final piece of turf was laid in the field of play in the Olympic stadium. I will return to this point, but I believe that the final sod came from Scunthorpe—a powerful statement about how the whole of the UK has contributed to the effort in the Olympic park. At the end of July the Olympic Delivery Authority will hand over the stadium, the aquatic centre, the handball and basketball arenas, the international broadcasting centre and the main press centre. The white water park at Lee valley is now complete, and the work at Stratford station will also be completed. The anticipated final cost of the construction and development of the park now stands at £7.3 billion, with around £500 million of contingency available. However, another tribute to John Armitt and David Higgins is the fact that something like £780 million of savings have been made. I should also like to refer to the importance of sustainability in the park, about which my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Limehouse (Jim Fitzpatrick) has made many speeches in the House. When I last visited the park, I realised that the wetland area looked just as it did on the PowerPoint presentations that I used to make five or six years ago. That is a measure of just how professionally this project has been realised. Trees have been planted that were indigenous to the lower Lea valley 200 years ago. I would also like to remind the House that once the games are over, more than 2,000 great crested newts will be repatriated from the sanctuary further up the Lea valley that they have been given during the construction process. I am not sure whether that fact will become an issue in the forthcoming mayoral contest, but there will be a post-games moment of celebration with the newts’ homecoming.