Report to Scrutiny
Item Number: 6
Contains Confidential or No
Exempt Information
Subject of Report: Update on Ealing and 2012 Olympics
Education, Leisure and Children’s Social Services Scrutiny
Meeting:
Panel 5th January 2011
Steve Marshall, Assistant Director of Leisure,
Service Report Author:
marshallst@ealing.gov.uk, 020 8825 6429
Harjeet Bains, Scrutiny Review Officer,
Scrutiny Officer:
bainsh@ealing.gov.uk, 020 8825 7120
Councillor Kamaljit Dhindsa, Customer and Community
Cabinet Responsibility:
Services
Roger Jones, Director of Environment and Leisure,
Director Responsibility:
jonesrog@ealing.gov.uk, 020 8825 5778
Brief: To consider the progress since the last update to the Panel
The Panel is asked to:
Recommendations:
- make proposals for further advancements as appropriate
1. Update on Ealing and 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 This report is designed to update Members on progress with officer’s work to
“maximise the greatest possible benefit for the people of Ealing from the 2012
Olympics” (Cabinet, July 2006). This update builds upon the earlier reports and
presentation to this panel in March 2007, September 2008 and November 2009.
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1.1.2 The London Games will provide a once in a lifetime opportunity on many levels –
before, during and after the event in August 2012. These include: opportunities
for tourism and economic development; getting our communities active, healthier
and safer; community cohesion by developing a feel good factor and enhanced
pride; creating a significant cultural and sporting legacy; partnerships with local
businesses to enhance investment in sporting and cultural facilities.
1.1.3 Officers have been continuing to work on the opportunities outlined in the
previous reports and presentation to judge the varying needs and priorities. The
majority of this work has been on a Regional level with colleagues and partners
across London, particularly West London. The borough is finalising its own action
plan, ‘Playing the Game 2011-13’, to focus on the specific and unique
opportunities and needs that exist in Ealing. By setting out clear priorities and
commitments, we hope to attract additional resources where required and
provide a collective enthusiasm for work on the Games. Our approach has been
action-oriented, focusing on adding value and sustainability to existing
programmes or work that is already planned in the key areas of activity, and
extending and improving the impact of these, embarking on new one-off pieces of
work only where additional external resources may be available.
2. Playing the Game: Tourism and 2012 Action Plan
2.1 Outline of priorities
2.1.1 The strategy originally envisaged was delayed due to other work priorities and
the uncertain impact of financial savings on key activity areas. The council’s
officer 2012 Steering Group now plans to produce a streamlined version of the
strategy as an action plan by early 2011, still centring on the framework set out
by the Local Government Association identifying the real benefits for Local
Authorities across the UK and focusing in on three key areas of activity:
Welcome to Ealing: maximising tourism and economic development
opportunities from the local cultural offer;
2012 Business Opportunities: developing partnerships with local business
to enhance investment opportunities;
Getting Involved: increasing community participation in sport and culture,
and contributing to community cohesion, by capitalising on the Olympic
‘feel good factor’ and the Cultural Olympiad.
2.2 Welcome to Ealing
2.2.1 The 2012 Games will add 500,000 additional visitors to the 25 million people, 15
million from overseas, that already visit London every year, but it is anticipated
that the post-Games tourism impact, over the following seven to ten years, will be
the most important. Whilst East and Central London will be in demand for
accommodation, Ealing will work to position itself as the destination for tourism
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and culture in West London. The Games offer Ealing a chance to refocus its work
on tourism, enabling the borough to effectively promote its distinctive offer and to
market its local attractions and events. There are three key areas to be driven
forward to enable Ealing to secure lasting benefits from Olympic-related tourism:
Ealing’s Tourism Offer: Ealing’s unique selling points are its location at the
heart of west London, our popular events programme and our link to the
creative industries and film. The most likely tourists are friends and
relatives of residents, both during the Games and after. The Altogether
Better marketing campaign has raised Ealing’s profile and there will be
further opportunities to refresh the borough’s image by working with
agencies such as Visit London and the London Development Agency
(LDA) to be included in London wide marketing materials that are being
created for domestic and international marketing campaigns in the lead up
to 2012.
The Visitor Experience: There is a great amount of work to be done to
improve the infrastructure needed to support tourism in London generally
in time for 2012. For Ealing, considerable investment has been made in
transport infrastructure and signage. Future work may include improving
accommodation standards.
People and Places: It is vital that the people and places of Ealing are
ready for 2012: these are the features of a host city that are remembered
by visitors. A well-trained and welcoming workforce must be ready to
meet, greet and look after visitors, wherever they go during their stay. The
improvement of customer service skills, information and accessibility at
transport hubs, attractions, restaurants and hotels in time for 2012 would
be a real legacy for Ealing. Work in this area is likely to be signposting
operators towards information and training.
2.3 2012 Business Opportunities
2.3.1 Over the next two years, a large supply chain will form around the Games. The
LDA is working to ensure that a large proportion of London-based businesses
benefit from the opportunities that the games bring. A range of London wide-
initiatives are available that enable small and medium-sized enterprises to
access contracts, training and support that promote growth and leave businesses
better placed on a global scale.
2.3.2 The Council’s Economic Development Service is still developing this area of
work, but priorities are likely to be ensuring opportunities are flagged up to the
local business community and signposting companies towards developing the
workforce to be able to make the most of the benefits available. There may also
be opportunities to attract investment from new partners into the borough.
2.4 Getting Involved
2.4.1 Ealing is passionate about involving its communities in 2012, enabling local
people to make informed decisions about how they would like to engage with this
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event. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
(LOCOG) have long been promoting the benefits to all in terms of getting
involved and Ealing are keen that its residents take up the opportunities on offer
and have a chance to feel part of what is going on.
2.4.2 Ealing residents, like all London residents are contributing to the financing of the
games through a Council Tax precept of £2.3M per year collected from each of
the 116,000 Council Tax payers paying an additional £20 on their Council tax bill,
so it is only right that Ealing residents get something back. Ealing Council feel
that there are three main ways that Ealing residents can get involved in the
Games:
Sharing the Celebrations: We want residents to feel informed about
developments, particularly ones that will clearly impact on their lives.
There needs be a range of Olympic related projects and initiatives
available to residents, from training programmes to cultural events to
inspire and enthuse local people so that residents really can share in the
lead up to 2012. We are currently exploring the possibilities for Ealing
Summer and the London Mela to be part of the Cultural Olympiad. Local
people will also be able to organise their own street and park events
through the Council’s Events team.
Active and Healthy Lives: The inspirational nature of the games should be
used as a tool to encourage all local people to become more active and
healthy and to get excited about sport and physical activity. Building on the
successful sports programme already established in the borough, the
games bring the opportunity to capitalize on the increased media
coverage, positive sporting role models, and the introduction of less
popular sports. A real legacy from the games for Ealing would be
improved sporting facilities, an increase in participation figures for sport,
and more volunteers supporting local sport. The latter two items are
measured by National Indicators that the Council reports on annually.
Ambassadors and Volunteers: There will be opportunities for local people
to have a specific role during the games, either on a paid or voluntary
basis. An estimated 70,000 volunteers will be required to support official
games activities and there are also other opportunities to support Games-
related work much closer to home. Local people should have the choice to
either get involved officially or to play a similar role but in Ealing. If local
people are trained up effectively in preparation for 2012, but also with
opportunities for longer-term roles then this investment will lead to
improved skills, confidence and engagement of local people that will last
long after 2012 in the borough.
2.5 Legacy
2.5.1 The legacy of the 2012 Olympics has been a much discussed issue nationally.
For the borough, the key legacy will be inspiring a generation of people to take
part in sporting and cultural activities and bring benefits to the community and the
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individual in health, well-being and social cohesion – not just for the summer of
2012, but as a lasting part of their lives.
2.6 Implementing the Plan
2.6.1 There are many organisations and agencies across London and the borough who
will be involved in the planning and delivery of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games. Development of the Olympic venues and park is progressing at an
unbelievable pace with often fixed deadlines dictated by the nature of the
projects. It is therefore important that the borough has a clear action plan with
definite timescales for how to work proactively within these structures, to keep up
with developments and be seen as the leader of culture and business within
West London, working closely with the West London Partnership for the 2012
Games.
2.6.2 An outline 2012 Action Plan is already in development but much of the detail will
be completed over the next three months in consultation with organisations within
the borough and wider. The Action Plan will be a live document with more details
added in February, once budget announcements are made.
The current timescale looks like this:
2010 Setting up internal structures and external relationships
Identifying 2012 projects and actions with partners
Continued improvements to sporting and cultural facilities
2011 Raising the profile of Ealing’s plans within London
Build-up of cultural activity on all fronts
Providing information for businesses
Improving the standards at and promotion of our visitor
attractions
Details of how communities can get involved and
encouragement to do so
2012 A year of cultural celebration and business success
Welcoming the world to Ealing
Beyond Looking to the future, ensuring lasting benefits from
investment made and lessons learned
2.6.3 The draft Action Plan is attached at Appendix 1.
2.7 Cultural Olympiad
2.7.1 The Cultural Olympiad, established to celebrate all cultural events of the Olympic
Movement, will be at the heart of the build-up to 2012. The four-year Cultural
Olympiad kicked off on September 26-28 2008 with a huge range of inspirational
programmes. The Olympiad is not just about sport, but will also celebrate
cultures, people and languages – in London, the UK and around the world. Many
of the planned events will be within this programme’s spirit.
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2.7.2 The Council’s initial plans for 2012 include celebrating 25 years of the Ealing
Blues Festival, producing the London Mela and bringing back Sportsjam, an
event that draws together sports clubs from across the borough to highlight
opportunities for young people.
3 Achievements to date
3.1 Our record
3.1.1 The last few years have been a high point for our cultural facilities and partners in
Ealing. Our sporting facilities have achieved nationally recognisable results, with
an increased number being highly commended under QUEST (leisure industry
national benchmark) or scoring highly on the National Benchmark Scheme.
Perivale Athletics Track was UK Athletics’ highly coveted ‘Facility of the Year’ for
2007 and the track and Southall Leisure Centre have been given Training Camp
status for the 2012 Games.
3.1.2 Northala Fields, London’s newest and largest green space to open this side of
Stratford’s Olympic Park, has been completed to wide acclaim and considerable
sums are being invested in other parks and open spaces in 2010/11. The 21st
Century Libraries programme has moved on considerably with the opening and
success of several libraries and Ealing Summer Festival has broken attendance
records in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
3.2 The last twelve months
3.2.1 Achievements since the last update include:
The opening of the new Northolt Leisure Centre in January 2010 has
provided a fantastic facility for the north-west of the borough. Nearly 4000
people have joined the gym and over 1000 people are on the Learn to
Swim programme.
Ealing has successfully launched the ‘Team Ealing’ Ambassador Grant
Scheme in January 2010, sponsoring five resident athletes with real hopes
of representing Great Britain in the 2012 Games.
The ‘Team Ealing’ Junior International Grant Scheme followed in October,
with seven young residents – all already competing internationally at junior
level – selected for support to assist their aim of achieving a breakthrough
to the senior team.
In November, the borough’s Special Olympics group – which gives people
with learning difficulties a chance in competitive sport – launched a new
kayaking group at Acton Baths.
4. Legal Implications
4.1 There are no legal implications arising from this report.
5. Financial Implications
5.1 Value for money
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5.1.1 As per point 1.1.3, the work to date has striven to ensure that the maximum value
is reaped from the revenue-funded work that Ealing is already doing on several
fronts. In many ways, the 2012 Games provide an opportunity to promote
increased engagement with the community through existing programmes rather
than an avenue to create new activities that require extra funding. For example,
the borough already has a Sports Development team that is widely recognised as
being one of the most successful in London, and the borough population’s
participation both in active exercise and in sports-related volunteering are higher
than the West London average. 2012, therefore, provides a tool to improve even
further in these areas without additional revenue implications, thereby improving
value for money.
5.1.2 There may also be areas where income to the Council can be increased through
this improved promotion, for example through increased ticket sales for events
and festivals or through increasing sports centre useage.
5.2 Additional resources
5.2.1 Some potential actions may require additional funding in order for them to be
achieved. However, none of these items are arising simply from the Tourism and
Olympic Strategy, but are already within other strategies that the Council is
considering or committed to. The Council’s External Funding Team will work
closely with colleagues in order to secure income from sources such as London
Marathon Trust or Arts Council England in order to maximise the possible
investment.
6. Other Implications
6.1 Strategic Objectives
6.1.1 The strength of this activity area is that it has potential to contribute to all of
Ealing’s strategic objectives, but particularly:
To make Ealing a better place to live
To create a great place for every child and young person to grow up
To ensure there are opportunities for all people and businesses to
prosper
6.2 Community Cohesion
6.2.1 There will be opportunities to contribute to the Council’s strategies for Community
Safety and Community Cohesion through the 2012 Action Plan. Staffing
implications will become known once the Action Plan is finalised; whilst the work
proposed builds on existing programmes, there will be a co-ordinating role that
adds value to these individual strands by pulling them together.
7. Background Papers
The last report to the panel in November 2009 can be found at:
http://www.ealing.gov.uk/ealing3/export/sites/ealingweb/services/council/committ
ees/agendas_minutes_reports/scrutiny/education_leisure_and_childrens_social_
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services_scrutiny_panel/19may2009-
24may2010/_24_november_2009/Agenda_Item_07_Update_on_Ealing_and_201
2_Olympics.doc
Consultation
Name of Department Date Sent Date Comments
Consultee to Response Appear in
Consultee Received Report Para:
from
Consultee
Internal
Roger Jones Director, Environment and 21/12/10 21/12/10
Leisure
Peter Morris Director, Marketing and 21/12/10
Communications
Lucy Taylor Assistant Director of 21/12/10
Regeneration and Planning
Policy
Cllr Dhinsda Portfolio Holder, Customer and21/12/10
Community Services
Report History
Decision Type: Urgency item?
Non-Key Decision No
Authorised by Cabinet Date Report Report Deadline: Date Report Sent:
Member: Drafted:
Cllr Dhindsa 6/12/10 22/12/10 21/12/10
Report No.: Report Author and Contact for Queries:
Steve Marshall, Assistant Director of Leisure
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