HC Deb 26 February 2001 vol 363 cc574-5
11. Sir Sydney Chapman (Chipping Barnet)

If he will make a statement on progress in establishing a national athletics facility at Picketts Lock. [149395]

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith)

The project team is making good progress to develop the new Lee Valley national athletics centre. The design team is producing outline plans for the stadium and associated facilities, and technical studies are at an advanced stage. The project team expects to be able to submit a full planning application by the end of May.

Sir Sydney Chapman

I am grateful for that information, but will the Secretary of State confirm that no design has yet been accepted and that the project is therefore not really up and running? Will he assure the House that, however great the current delays, facilities will be available for the world athletics championships in 2005, which means that they must be completed by the preceding year?

Mr. Smith

Design work is under way and I have every confidence that the stadium will be in place, up and running and of a world-class nature ready for the world athletics championships in 2005.

Mr. Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey)

Few people share the Secretary of State"s confidence. Questions about Picketts Lock arise directly from his ill-informed and wrong-headed decision to kick athletics out of Wembley. If Wembley with planning permission and a detailed design is not to be ready until 2004, what are the chances that Picketts Lock will be ready by 2005? What are the chances of London hosting the world athletics championships if there is nowhere for them to be held? What are the chances of a successful bid for the Olympic games in 2012 if there is no Olympic stadium? To each question, the answer is the same: about as good as the chances of the Secretary of State keeping his job after May.

Mr. Smith

If we had not taken athletics out of Wembley in December 1999, we would now face the prospect of having to abandon any hope of hosting the world athletics championships. It is because we took that decision—the right decision—to take athletics out of Wembley and to begin work on the Picketts Lock site in the Lee valley that we now have the opportunity to host the championships. Dave Moorcroft, chief executive of UK Athletics, said recently: It was right to revisit Wembley one more time but Picketts Lock was always our first choice…It really is the number one choice for a national athletics centre as it will create a dedicated, purpose built stadium, high performance centre, throwing field and warm up track. That is what we shall provide at the Lee valley stadium, and it is about time the Tories put their voices behind that national project and stopped their ill-informed carping and criticism.