The Leeds bid for the 1978 Games

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32975, 22 July 1972, Page 20

The Leeds bid for the 1978 Games

(By

NAYLOR HILLARY)

LEEDS.

Leeds, the city that regards itself as the capital of Yorkshire and of the industrial North of England, has emerged as one of the main contenders for the 1978 Commonwealth Games.

The final decision will be made by the Commonwealth Games Federation when it meets in Munich next month. In the meantime, the Leeds City Council has set out to win Commonwealth votes in a campaign modelled on that used by Christchurch to gain the 1974 Games. Leeds council delegations —complete with coloured brochures and a 20-minute documentary colour film made by Yorkshire Television—have been touring African and Caribbean Commonwealth countries. They found that the other main contender—Edmonton, in Canada—also had teams in the field, similarly equipped, and the outcome at Munich is by no means certain.

Nor are the city and its surrounds ' agreed that the Games would be an unmitigated blessing. When the proposal was first put forward, in the 19605, that Leeds should hold the 1974 Games, Labour members of the city council described the plan as “a long jump into debt.” Their opposition continued until early this year when local government elections gave Labour a majority on the council. Now Labour representatives have been visiting Africa and the Caribbean in what the Conservatives, in opposition on the council, describe as “a safari and a beanfeast.” The smaller Liberal group on the council has said that all spending on Games promotion should stop. Leeds has assurances from most of the surrounding area —including the cities of Bradford and Sheffield —that it will not have to foot the bill alone if the Games come to Yorkshire. Before 1978, local government reorganisation will have altered drastically the shape of local authorities in the area, and all the councils now in favour of the Games

admit they cannot bind their successors, which do not yet exist.

On the credit side, Leeds has an assurance from Whitehall that the Government supports Leeds as the host city for the 1978 Games. But a General Election will be held in Britain before then, arid the Minister with Special Responsibility for Sport (Mr Eldon Griffiths) has told the House of Commons that support for the Leeds bid to stage the Games carried no commitment of financial help—the Government could not bind its successors.

Leeds is watching closely the costs which Munich is facing for this year’s Olympic games. The city will be watching, too, to see what kind of financial success the Christchurch Games prove to be, especially as Leeds will be trying even harder for the 1982 games if it misses out in 1978. Commonwealth Games held in Leeds should have more hope of financial success than the Christchurch Games. Leeds is at the centre of a densely populated region; it already has a world-class swimming pool which would serve the Games; by 1978 the English

motorway system will, have put the city within relatively easy driving distance of most parts of England; and several international hotel chains are planning new buildings to add to the many hotels already in the area. UNIVERSITY Leeds University probably has sufficient hostel accommodation for most of the visiting athletes and officials, and some of its playing fields have been suggested as a site for a new athletics stadium close to the centre of the city. Yorkshiremen who favour the Games point out that Munich—while it has overbuilt and over-spent for its immediate needs—once the Olympics are over, will have facilities and communications which will serve the city well into the next century. Leeds should use the Commonwealth Games to d® the same, they say. The critics reply that Munich has become a paradise for “gazumpers” — a wonderful word, much heard in Leeds, which is used to describe builders and property dealers who quote a price and then conveniently raise it when the client thinks the deal has already been concluded. Leeds is already in the middle of a large programme of urban renewal in which the old terraced houses of the early Industrial Revolution' are coming down — streets at a time—to make way for newer apartment blocks. It is a "gazumper’s paradise” itself, and the pressures of building for the Commonwealth Games would certainly make matters worse.

No-one has yet made a thorough estimate of what the Games would cost if the Leeds delegation succeeds in Munich on August 26. On the experience of Christchurch, any estimate at this stage would only be a figure plucked out of the air. SURVEY

But in spite of the critics and the political wrangling that seems an inevitable part of a Commonwealth Games bid these days, the people of Leeds, in a random survey, did come out 75 per cent in favour of the Games. Only 13 per cent were against the Games, and 12 per cent were undecided. And 81 per cent of those interviewed thought the city would benefit from the Games.

The final decision, of course, will be made by the 42 Commonwealth delegations next month.

Naylor Hillary, a member of “The Press” staff, who is in Britain on a Commonwealth Press Union fellowship, is now visiting the “Yorkshire Post,” Leeds.