As part of our regular speaker series, Stephen Castle, former Essex County Councillor and Chair of the Nations and Regions East of England Strategic Board for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, visited JLGC in November to give us a presentation on ‘Local Government’s Role in Delivering an Incredible Games and a Lasting Legacy’. Since the announcement that Tokyo would host the 2020 Olympic Games, there has been much interest in how Japan can learn from the UK’s experience hosting London 2012. Stephen Castle’s presentation highlighted how the Olympics and Paralympics affected local authorities not only in London, but nationwide, and the role that local authorities can play in preparing for the games, generating local support and ensuring the games bring a lasting legacy to all areas of the country.
Local authorities were involved in planning for London 2012 from the start of the bid process. The London 2012 Nations and Regions Group, representing 12 regions of the UK, was established in 2003 along with LOCOG to provide support for the London bid from across the country. After London was awarded the games in 2005, the group’s role switched to raising interest in the Olympics, and ensuring the benefits and legacy of the games was felt in all regions. The Nations and Regions East Strategic Board, chaired by Stephen Castle was established in 2005. Essex County Council, along with five other local authorities in the East of England, was represented on the board. The group also consisted of organisations concerned with tourism, business, sport, culture, skills and employment, health and volunteering. Through the NRE a good working relationship was formed between the neighbouring local authorities. In 2008 the group worked together to produce ‘The Power of Possibilities’, a publication which outlined how they would create a sustainable legacy which would reach beyond sport to include economic development and regeneration, skills and employment, education, tourism, culture and health and wellbeing. They were also proactive in working with the media to promote regional issues and generate local interest in the Games.
Essex County Council itself had been involved in the Olympic bid since 2003 when it was successful in its application to host the mountain bike, BMX and canoe slalom events at facilities within the county. Because of this, and the close proximity of Essex to the Olympic Park, the council established an Olympic Working Group with four members of staff worked on Olympic issues in addition to their permanent roles. Essex ran a ‘Back the Bid’ campaign, to generate support amongst the public and local businesses. Once London had won the bid, the county council began work to encourage foreign athletes to hold pre-games training camps in the county. This was seen as an important way through which local residents and businesses could benefit from the games. One of the teams which eventually based themselves in Essex was the Japanese swimming team. In 2006 staff were seconded to LOCOG, and Essex established a strategic board which produced an ‘Action Plan for Legacy’. At the same time, the council was also working on preparations for the host venues for mountain biking and canoe slalom, which were run by the local authority. In 2009 Essex was awarded Beacon status, an award recognising excellence in local government, for its Olympic preparation work.
As the Games grew closer, Essex focussed on raising awareness and enthusiasm about the Games locally. One of the important roles of the local authority was to implement national initiatives at a local level. Essex facilitated schemes such as the Get Set Education Programme, which encouraged teachers to incorporate the Olympics and Paralympics into the curriculum and offered free tickets for school children to attend Olympic events. The 2012 Cultural Olympiad was a series of cultural events organised to coincide with London 2012, and many of these were held with the support of local authorities. Essex also supported local business through the ‘Compete For’ project, which helped small and medium-sized businesses to bid for Olympic contracts. Many contracts were won by businesses based outside of London. In addition, the scheme provided good practice and guidance for those businesses to bid for further public sector work, post Olympics. Local projects spanning education, business, sports and culture were awarded an ‘inspire mark’ featuring the Olympic logo, again helping to raise the profile of the games and foster a feeling of inclusion for citizens outside of the host city.
One of the council’s most important roles during preparations for the games was the torch relay. The relay travelled through all local authorities in the UK, creating a huge amount of excitement about the games. Local councils were heavily involved, taking responsibility for the organising of the route, security, public information, volunteer management and any additional events. They also needed to ensure that other council services ran without interference during the relay. A large proportion of the budget for the torch relay was provided by Olympic sponsors but local authorities provided funds for additional ceremonies, route preparation and security. However, Mr Castle explained that the benefits of raising awareness of the games and promoting a local legacy far outweighed the cost.
During the Games, as well as ensuring the success of events held in Essex’s host venues, the council provided live broadcasts of the games in public spaces, provided information gateways manned by council trained volunteers to direct members of the public to Olympic sites in Essex and into London, and again ensured that normal essential council services were not interrupted by Olympic-related events.
Since the Games, Essex has focussed on maintaining an Olympic legacy. The mountain bike park facility continues to be used by residents and Essex hope it will play host to further international cycling events, bringing more tourism and investment to the county. The Essex Ambassadors Programme sends London 2012 athletes to local schools, and a grant scheme has been set up to allow potential Olympic and Paralympic athletes to train and attend athletics events. The journey to the podium project links Essex-based 2012 athletes with artists to create cultural artefacts commemorating their success. Although the long term legacy of the games is yet to be evaluated, Mr Castle felt that the impact, particularly in schools, could already be seen.
Mr Castle’s talk demonstrates the important role that local authorities, even those not hosting, can play in ensuring a successful Olympic Games. Essex County Council saw the Olympics as a once in a lifetime opportunity to enhance the work that local authorities already do. Through the Olympics, local authorities had the opportunity to encourage people to engage in sport and become more physically active, promoting local public health. There was potential to gain investment for the local area, and to provide opportunities for small and medium-sized local businesses to bid for Olympic contracts. It was also an opportunity to demonstrate how effective local government can be in implementing national initiatives at a local level.
Essex’s experience shows that local authority cooperation is essential for high-profile events such as the torch relay, and if these are done well they can help to promote enthusiasm for the games and a lasting legacy nationwide. Mr Castle ended his presentation by encouraging Japanese local authorities, especially those outside of the host city Tokyo, to fully engage with the Olympic preparations and to be bold and innovative in their approach.
We wish to express our thanks to Mr Castle for his inspirational presentation. With Tokyo 2020 now confirmed, JLGC is privileged to be part of the preparations and we are keen to facilitate the exchange of ideas between and those involved in London 2012 and those planning for Tokyo 2020. We warmly welcome any advice or experiences that UK local authorities are able to share.
