Archived press release

Date Published: 17/03/08

Aylesbury Vale is off the starting blocks in the race to ensure local residents, businesses and voluntary organisations benefit from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

An action plan has been drawn up which outlines how the district can gain from the events that will attract thousands of the world’s best athletes, tens of thousands of extra tourists and global TV audiences of hundreds of millions.

The objectives include promoting the Vale to visitors and athletes preparing for the Games and increasing the opportunities for residents to take part in sports, arts, cultural activities and volunteering.

The plan also hopes to use the Games to help maximise jobs and training opportunities for residents and local businesses. There are also proposals to use the games to support education projects and to secure transport and infrastructure benefits.

Aylesbury Vale District Council has developed the plan in collaboration with a wide range of organisations, including Wheelpower, Tourism South East, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes County Sports Partnership and Business Link Solutions.

The council has set aside £50,000 per year to supply delivery of Olympic-related activities across Aylesbury Vale through to 2012/13. This funding will be used to:
• Support the launch of the Cultural Olympiad, including the development of the P-artylimpics arts project, in which disabled artists are following the progress of Paralympians as they train and compete at Stoke Mandeville in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Games
• Develop a programme of estate and community based sporting activities, including street soccer and school holiday programmes

• Promote a programme of skills training to help enable local people to benefit from employment opportunities linked to the 2012 Games, such as event management, catering and hospitality services
• Raise awareness of the unique role played by Aylesbury Vale in the birth and development of disability sport and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first ever sporting event for people with disabilities held at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 1948
• Organise a programme of community events to celebrate the official handover from Beijing to London for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, including a free day of sport across Buckinghamshire on 13 September
• Develop the work of youth ambassadors to help promote awareness of the Olympics and Paralympics in primary and secondary schools
• Support major transport programmes such as the Aylesbury Parkway Station and improve access to Stoke Mandeville Stadium and the Dorney Lake corridor

AVDC is aiming to build on the success of its first Olympic’s Action Plan, which was published last year. Of the 24 action points within the 2007/8 action plan, the council and its partners implemented 23, including the launch of an Olympic passport scheme for talented athletes, hosting of the Olympic Roadshow at Stoke Mandeville Stadium and the establishment of a groundbreaking new coach agency which will enable local organisations to purchase the services of sports coaches.

The publication of the 2008/9 action plan follows the announcement by Lord Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee, that six sporting venues across Aylesbury Vale have been selected as approved facilities for training camps in advance of the 2012 Games.

The venues are Stoke Mandeville Stadium, Aylesbury College, Quainton Stud, Addington Equestrian Centre, Green Park and Stowe School. These venues will now be included in the ‘Pre-Games Training Camp Guide’, which will be launched at the Beijing Games to aid National Olympic Committees to identify suitable facilities and sites for their training and preparation camps.

Councillor David Thompson, AVDC Cabinet Member for Leisure, said: “The potential benefits of the 2012 Games are far-reaching and not simply sporting. The Olympics will inspire people of all ages and offer a large range of opportunities for people to become involved.


“The council is committed to working with its partners to make Aylesbury Vale stand out in terms of its facilities and attractions, raise global awareness of our place as the birthplace of disability sport and ensure that we maximise the economic, sporting and cultural benefits for our residents and businesses. The resources invested by the council will help us on our way to achieving this.”

Residents who would like to find out more about the opportunities that will arise from the 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Games should visit AVDC’s website at www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk or call 01296 585221.

- Ends -

Notes to editors:
This decision is subject to call-in. Any requests for call-in must be received by the Head of Administration by 5pm on 20 March. 

For interviews, please contact:
• Councillor David Thompson, Cabinet Member for Leisure, 01296 425656
• Matthew Partridge, Head of Leisure and Cultural Services, 01296 585181