§ 25. Mr. PriskTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the decision to abandon Picketts Lock as a venue for the world athletics championships. [10046]
§ Tessa JowellPatrick Carter's report on the Lee Valley project was completed on 31 August. The report concluded that the level of risk facing the project had reached such a stage as to make it unsustainable.
Having discussed his conclusions in detail with Sport England, the Government needed to decide whether to invest significant amounts of new money in the project to make it sustainable or whether to look to alternatives. Patrick Carter took the view that even with significant additional funding, the Lee Valley project still faced the very real prospect of being a substandard event due to transport, infrastructure and athlete accommodation difficulties.
The Government were not willing to see the United Kingdom proceed to stage a substandard event and with Sport England's agreement, decided to terminate the project on 4 October.