FIRST BLOW TO LOCAL SPORTS CLUB BY OLYMPIC AUTHORITES

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 25th Apr 2007

Liberal Democrat Olympic Spokesperson on the London Assembly, Dee Doocey, will be exposing evidence of local sports people being given a raw deal by the Olympic Authorities, at a London Assembly Plenary today.

The Eastway Users Group agreed to vacate their cycle track in Newham (which has produced six under 18 national mountain bike champions) in order to make way for the Olympics. They agreed to move on a temporary basis to a site in Redbridge, on the understanding that after the Olympics they would be relocated to a 34-hectare site near their original track within the Olympic park. However, the planning application submitted by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) for this post-Olympics site measures just around 7 hectares - a mere third of the original size promised .

Dee will be presenting a 1,900 signature petition from cyclists to the Mayor which calls for the ODA to honour the promises made to provide the cyclists with facilities at least as good as those they had vacated.

Dee Doocey said:

"This is the first case of a local sports group being taken for a ride by the Olympic Authorities.

'London won the Olympics largely because of the legacy that was promised for sport and regeneration. These cyclists willingly entered into a deal with the ODA to make way for the Olympics. But the ODA have turned their back on this agreement in the most shameful way. The inescapable conclusion is that they are putting land profits ahead of sporting legacy.

'The cyclists must be given back a site and facilities equal or superior to the site they vacated for the Olympics. Any failure to do so is letting down local people, letting down Londoners and letting down the Olympic movement.