Olympics

Olympic Sailing events and the road.

We are delighted that the Olympic Sailing events are based at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy. We are concerned that this fantastic event is being used by some people (particularly Mr Knight) to justify the relief road.

We are told there will be 2000 competitors and helpers at the event. We accept those figures. Dorset County Council are forecasting 15,000 to 20,000 spectators a day. Recently (April 2007) claims were made that up to 35,000 may attend the sailing. This is probably a wild guess by DCC. DCC continue to claim that the road is "critical" to the games. It is blatently not - as mentioned the Olympic Committee stated that all spectators must arrive by public transport (cycle or foot).

We question those figures and more importantly their impact on the decision to build this road.

Who watches this sort of sailing?

At two recent well publicised major events held in Weymouth, the Volvo youth ISAF and J24 World championships there were only a handful of spectators.

What can you see?

Who wins the race depends on very few small variables such as the final seconds before the start, the smallest variations in wind speed on different ?sides? of the course and who uses the very complicated racing rules to their best advantage. It is quite difficult to follow from any distance.

Where can you see it?

From the beach or a boat? On your TV

The television coverage of the Olympics at Athens was really good, especially as the Ben Ainsley final race was a cliff hanger. It was well shot, well informed, and the commentary was excellent. People remember it.

It is interesting to compare the Tall Ships race and the sailing Olympics in terms of spectators. Every one loves looking at Tall Ships under sail. They came to Weymouth in their thousands and it was a fantastic event, all done with the existing road structure.

There is absolutely no need to build this road for the Olympics. No one involved in organising the event has asked for it. It will not affect the Olympics.

It has always been the intention of the public transport should be used for the event.

The relief road did not feature in the London Olympic Candidature file.

This from the Echo

MPs say £56m new road is not vital for Olympics
From the archive, first published Friday 17th Mar 2006.

WEYMOUTH'S £56 million relief road has been dealt another blow after MPs said it was not vital for the Olympics in 2012.

A transport select committee of MPs has said that plans to build the road were never included in London's successful bid for the games and that Dorset County Council should not claim its construction is necessary for the Olympics to be a success.

In a report published yesterday it has called on the Department of Transport to contact the council to make the point clear.

The decision has been welcomed by campaign group Road Block, which says the road will have an adverse impact on the environment.

But South Dorset MP Jim Knight has hit back saying the road is "vital" in staging a successful event and for attracting future investment.

The county council says it never claimed building the road was part of its London bid but said it had hoped it would be built by 2012 regardless of the Olympics.

The council had helped to prepare the London bid document and later gave evidence to the select committee about its transport plan.

In its report Going For Gold, the select committee said of the evidence: `The proposed Weymouth Relief Road, cited by Dorset County Council as necessary for the Olympic transport, did not however feature in the London Olympic candidature file. This uncertainty must be resolved and we look to the department to take the lead in doing so'.

The committee said that in its evidence the council had cited the road as one of the "necessary" improvements to the area before the town could stage the sailing part of the games.

But the report makes clear that the only traffic improvement contained in the candidature brief was for an improvement to the rail link.

The report states: `The only necessary transport upgrade guaranteed there for the sailing events is the widening of the London to Weymouth railway line'.

Mr Knight said the relief road was part of a range of measures, including a park and ride scheme, which would benefit spectators to the event.

He said: "The new road is vital to the successful staging of the event.

"This road is crucial for my constituents, for the health of those living along Dorchester Road and for the further prosperity of the area."

Mike White, head of highways and transport at the council, said: "Our bid submission had assumed the Weymouth relief road would be built by 2012 but if for any reason it was not the existing road between Dorchester and Weymouth would be used.

"In our representation to the committee we had pointed out that the main road into town was wholly inadequate for the purposes of the Olympics."

Campaigners against the scheme said they were delighted with the report's conclusions and called on the Government to keep its promise to improve the rail link.

Rebecca Lush of Road Block said: "It is now time for the council to stop misleading people that this destructive road is necessary for the games."

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