§ Mr. Tony LloydTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department is making available to new major sporting stadiums; what events this funding will permit; and for how long each stadium is expected to be operational. [147022]
§ Kate Hoey[holding answer 30 January 2001]: My Department does not fund stadium development. However, Sport England has provided grant in aid for three major stadium projects through the Lottery Sport Fund.
363WA grant of £120 million was awarded in November 1998 for purchase of the land for the English national stadium project at Wembley. Wembley National Stadium Ltd. has agreed to return £20 million of this amount following the decision to remove athletics from the stadium.
A grant of£77 million was awarded to the City of Manchester stadium. The stadium is due to hold the athletics and rugby sevens events for the 2002 Commonwealth games. Thereafter, the stadium will be used for football, and for community use with Manchester City football club as anchor tenant.
Grants of £1.57 million have been awarded to the Lee Valley national athletics centre for feasibility studies, which are to be completed by 31 May 2001. A budget allocation of up to a total of £60 million has been allocated for this project, subject to the receipt of a satisfactory grant application which will be assessed against Sport England's usual criteria. The stadium has been selected by UK Athletics to host the 2005 world athletics championships, which has been awarded to London by the International Amateur Athletics Federation.
Under the funding agreements for Wembley and Manchester, the project applicants are obliged to operate the projects for 50 years from opening. It is envisaged that the Lee Valley stadium will have the same operational life.