A former Downing Street adviser has said that the capital is not exploiting the full potential of the Olympic Games to rejuvenate the city.
Matthew Taylor, now chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce and a policy adviser to Tony Blair when he was prime minister, was speaking at the Capital Ambition conference organised by Kable.
He said that London is suffering similar problems to other major cities due partly to a gap in aspirations between different social groups, and there is a need for a debate about how its citizens can become more self-reliant, engaged in issues and more altruistic.
"The Olympics (due to take place in the city in 2012) provide a really good opportunity to debate what kind of city we want London to be, but we have failed in this respect" he said.
He said the Olympic cities that have proved successful in recent years have had a powerful story to tell at the time, citing the examples of Barcelona emphasising the rebirth of democracy in Spain, and Beijing conveying China's emergence as a superpower.
London won the Games on a powerful social message about inclusion and participation, but his has not been followed up.
"I think we are missing a trick," he said. "It doesn't cost a lot, but the Olympics creates the focus for the kind of debates we need to have. It's about issues like what responsibility does any person in London have, but there's no momentum behind it.
"There's going to be a very powerful operation to run the events, followed by a degree of regeneration, but there is no popular mobilisation.
"We've got to have a bigger, better conversation as we will face some incredibly tough choices over the next two or three years."
From Whitehall Watch
From Bubb's Blog
From Flip Chart Fairy Tales
