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 | | From: | Paul C | | Subject: | The London Tent- millions given to subsidy junkies | | Date: | Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:04:01 GMT |
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 | http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200501/3d563e4e-099e-405f-a60c-3be2a8b0d7db.htm
Apology call over Dome legacy
The management of the Millennium Dome has won some rare praise from
the government's spending watchdog, though opposition politicians have
called for an apology over the "fiasco".
The National Audit Office said in a new report released on Wednesday
that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and its agencies have
finally managed to put together a deal for the sale of the failed
tourist attraction that offers the taxpayer value for money.
The venue has been plagued by a string of bad headlines since the
project was in its planning stages.
Having failed to attract its targeted number of visitors in 2000,
despite the support of hundreds of millions of pounds of lottery
money, it has also struggled to find a suitable buyer since.
Last month regeneration minister Lord Rooker revealed that it is
costing the taxpayer £189,000 per month to maintain the site in North
Greenwich.
However the NAO pronounced that the deal to sell the Dome and its
surrounding land to entertainment group Meridian Delta, which has been
under negotiation since 2001, is good for the government.
It said the plans to build 10,000 new houses, as well as offices,
research and industry buildings, will help regenerate the area and
that the taxpayer would recoup £216 million in real terms over the
course of the deal.
White elephant
The Conservatives seized the opportunity to criticise ministers who
backed the Capital's "great white elephant".
Shadow London minister Mark Field said the building "stands as a
monument to Labour's incompetence in building, running and now selling
of the failed project".
"The tax payer has had to pick up the bill for mothballing the Dome
for four years at a cost of £28.7 million," he said.
"The £362.7 million of tax payers' money that this government has
wasted is enough to put 12,544 extra police officers on our streets.
"The government must ensure that regeneration continues around the
Dome to ensure that the community does not suffer from Labour's
failures."
Liberal Democrat spokesman Sarah Teather said both Tories and Labour
had shown "incompetence and ineptitude" in backing the project.
"Millions of pounds of taxpayer's money have been thrown away on a
project that failed to provide any positive lasting legacy for
London's East End," she said.
"Ministers had a big idea with no long term plan or vision which means
the whole thing has been a whopping waste of money.
"Both the Tories, for coming up with the idea of the Dome, and Labour,
for following it through, owe a big apology to the Capital for an
expensive empty tent."
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Paul
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